Packers lean heavily on emerging AJ Dillon in victory over Bears

As has been the case in recent weeks, Christian Watson came up with some big touchdowns for the Green Bay Packers offense, but as this unit struggled to find their footing through the first few quarters, they turned to AJ Dillon.

There were some head-scratching moments in the passing game from Aaron Rodgers that included several throws downfield that didn’t appear particularly close to being caught; however, Green Bay still managed to maintain a well-balanced attack with 31 pass attempts to 29 designed rushes.

Of those 29 rushes, Dillon had 18 of them. Aaron Jones briefly left the game in the first half with what was called a shin injury, and although he would return in quarters three and four, his usage was sporadic, with Patrick Taylor even getting a carry. When it was all said and done, Dillon totaled 93 yards, with a long of 21, and averaged 5.2 yards per carry, with rushing yards hard to come by at times.

Moving the ball through the air was inconsistent at best for Green Bay against Chicago, but Dillon’s presence gave the offense something to lean on. Down by 10 in the fourth quarter and with only 10 points on the board, Dillon carried the ball four times on a six-play scoring drive that ended with him finding the end zone from 21 yards out. Then on the next possession that resulted in a field goal that gave Green Bay the lead and nearly seven minutes coming off the clock, Dillon touched the ball on six of the Packers’ 13 plays.

In addition to what he provided in the run game, Dillon also caught all three of his targets for 26 yards with a long of 11.

The Packers offense has benefitted as of late from the emergence of Dillon. His season began very slowly and there were several weeks where that explosive ability that we had seen from him in 2021 was nowhere to be found. Through nine weeks, Dillon was averaging 4.0 yards per rush, which isn’t bad by any means, but it’s a far cry from the 5.3 yards per rush — which ranks third during that span — since then.

Early on in the year, we also didn’t see Dillon breaking tackles like we had grown accustomed to, either. However, Dillon has gone from averaging 2.98 yards after contact through nine weeks to 3.48 yards since them–sixth-best rate in the NFL per PFF ($$).

"“He’s a tough tackle; he doesn’t go down easy,” said Aaron Rodgers of Dillon after the game. “The last couple of weeks, he’s also had a guy on him at the five, and he just can’t get him down. He’s also got really good hands; he had a couple of nice catch and runs today. He’s just a really solid football player, and I mean that with the most respect possible and the most gratitude and credit to him for the way he shows up.”"

Dillon has certainly benefitted in this stretch of games from improved offensive line play. Week 10 was the first time the Packers had their preferred five along the offensive line for an entire game, and David Bakhtiari’s absence against Chicago is the only disturbance this group has had. With Dillon not as shifty as Jones, he needs the offensive line to help him create running lanes a bit more.

With that said, Dillon has certainly been playing with more juice over these last few weeks.

Dillon’s emergence, along with Jones’ usual contributions and Watson’s home run ability, has provided the Packers’ offense with a huge spark in recently. Against Dallas and Philadelphia, which included strong performances on the ground and big plays from Watson, the Packers averaged 32 points. They then put up 28 points against Chicago, despite a slow start.

As offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said on Thursday, when there is a consistent run game and a player like Watson on the outside, moving the ball can actually be that simple as the combination of those two elements can really sress opposing defenses. The play of Dillon, along with the other important factors mentioned, has led to a much more productive Packers offense.