GREEN BAY – The bumps and bruises have mostly subsided for Josh Jacobs after much-needed tapering down the final stretch of the 2025 regular season.
As the Packers make the turn into the playoffs, their Pro Bowl running back is off the injury report entirely and feeling like himself again.
"My body coming into this game is the best I've felt probably in the last six weeks," Jacobs said. "So, it's pretty good; pretty good situation to be in."
Green Bay was mindful of Jacobs' workload over the past month after racking up knee and ankle injuries dating back to a Week 11 trip to MetLife Stadium to face the New York Giants.
Coming off a debut season with the Packers in which he rushed for 1,329 yards and 15 touchdowns, Jacobs appeared to again be hitting his stride midway through the 2025 campaign.
After scoring nine rushing TDs over a span of six games, Jacobs suffered a bone bruise and thigh contusion on the opening series against the Giants on Nov. 16. He left in the second quarter and was a regular on Green Bay's injury report the rest of the way.
The Packers ultimately chose to pull back on Jacobs' reins. He touched the ball just 19 times on 41 combined snaps in losses to Chicago and Baltimore before not playing at all in Sunday's regular-season finale against the Minnesota Vikings.
The goal was to get Jacobs' body right for the postseason and the Packers feel they've succeeded. When asked about his knee on Wednesday, Jacobs said he hasn't "really felt it at all" in practice this week.
As much as Green Bay appreciated the next-back-up contributions of Emanuel Wilson and Chris Brooks, life is undeniably different on offense when Jacobs is healthy.
"You look at how many rushing touchdowns he's had this year, I think it's like 13 or something like that," offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said. "Having a guy that can find the end zone like he does is always really important in the red zone, for sure."
Heading into the Giants game, Jacobs was again among the league leaders in both rushing touchdowns and TDs scored inside five yards through the first 10 weeks of the season.
The 27-year-old running back still finished tied with 13 rushing TDs despite the late layoff, but the Packers' production in the red-zone fell off significantly with Jacobs' health in flux.
After ranking as high as second in red-zone efficiency early on, Green Bay finished tied for 14th in the category after going 2-of-12 inside the 20 during its recent four-game losing streak.
That skid included the offense going 0-for-5 in the red zone during the Packers' 22-16 overtime loss to Chicago in Week 16. Jacobs feels he can be part of the solution.
"Really the biggest thing I would say especially in our last matchup with them is just, when we get in the red zone, just making sure we get points," said Jacobs, who lost a fumble during one of those red-zone trips. "Limiting our turnovers and making sure we get points."
Jacobs has been an offensive catalyst since the Packers signed him as an unrestricted free agent in March 2024, rushing for 2,258 yards and 28 touchdowns in 32 starts for Green Bay.
He's also made his voice heard as a team captain who serves on the team's leadership council. Jacobs set the tone for the 2025 offseason after the Packers' 22-10 wild-card loss to Philadelphia last January and spoke up again in the locker room this week.
Jacobs, along with a few other veterans, reminded their teammates what's at stake in this matchup with the Bears on Saturday night. The crux of the message? Do not take this opportunity for granted.
"We just had an honest conversation with a lot of people and told them what we expect and what we're demanding out of this week and what's at stake," Jacobs said. "These are the moments that we dreamed of our whole life, since we were just little kids, we wanted to play in these type of situations. The reason why we worked as hard as we did, sacrifice whatever to be in these situations, to have a chance to play in the Super Bowl, which a lot of people don't get to do at all in their career."
A healthier Jacobs hopes to factor heavily into an extended playoff push, which begins with Saturday's showdown against the NFC North champion Bears in the wild-card round.
While Chicago has been proficient at taking away the football, its defense conceded a sizeable amount of production to the opposition – finishing 29th in total defense (361.8 yards per game), 27th against the run (134.5 ypg) and 23rd in scoring defense (24.4 points per game).
Jacobs is ready to put his best foot forward, fully confident his body is ready to absorb whatever hits come his way. Because now, it's win or go home.
"These moments and these types of games is where it really matters the most," Jacobs said. "It feels good to be able to just hit the ground running, be able to actually get up to my speeds and make my cuts the way that I normally make 'em. It feels good to be able to do that."
