Josh Jacobs is having one of the best rushing seasons in recent Packers history

Josh Jacobs’ first season in Green Bay is going according to plan. A seamless replacement for Aaron Jones, Jacobs was a crucial part of the Packers’ offense, as he was both a perfect complement to their passing attack and the main engine of their ground game. In at least two cases – the Colts game and the Jaguars game – he almost won the game for them.

So you probably won’t be surprised to hear that Jacobs boasts some of the best rushing stats we’ve seen from a Packers rusher in quite some time.

In 13 games, Jacobs has accumulated 987 rushing yards, third in the league behind the herculean totals of Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry. Unless something unexpected happens, Jacobs will cross the 1,000-yard threshold on Thursday night, giving the Packers their first 1,000-yard rusher without Aaron Jones since Eddie Lacy in 2014.

Aided by the relatively new 17-game schedule, Jacobs is on pace for just under 1,400 rushing yards this season (1,398 to be exact). If he’s able to maintain this pace, Jacobs will post the Packers’ best rushing season since Ahman Green’s franchise-record 1,883 yards in 2003. After Green, only Ryan Grant has broken 1,200 rushing yards in a season, doing so back-to-back seasons in 2008 and 2009.

Jacobs is already rapidly climbing the Packers’ career rushing leaderboard. Jacobs is already ranked 47th in Packers history and will comfortably be in the top 40 by the end of the year. If he can come close to repeating that kind of performance next year, Jacobs will almost certainly be in the top 20 of all-time Packers rushing annals.

It was a perfect fit, and in hindsight, perhaps it was fate. Jacobs was only available because his relationship with the Las Vegas Raiders had soured. Jacobs went first to the Raiders because they had a free first-round pick in 2019 that they acquired from the Chicago Bears as part of the Khalil Mack trade before the 2018 season. The Packers, who were believed to be in the market for Mack, still benefited indirectly from this trade.

Is it an exaggeration to say that Jacobs is only succeeding in Green Bay because of the Chicago Bears? Absolutely, but I’ll say it anyway. Thank you again, Chicago.