CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It's not that Aaron Jones failed to show this season that he still belongs in the conversation among the NFL's elite running backs. It's just been a while.
Fifteen weeks, to be exact.
Jones did some of the same things in Sunday's 33-30 win over the Carolina Panthers that he did in the season-opening win over the Chicago Bears, most importantly topping 100 total yards from scrimmage.
In between, Jones dealt with hamstring and knee injuries that limited him to just seven more appearances. In most of those, he was on a snap count or not 100% before this Week 16 game that kept the Packers in the NFC playoff race at 7-8 with two games to go.
While Jones returned last week in the loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after missing three games because of a left knee injury, he didn't look like his full self until he walked into Bank of America Stadium on Sunday.
"I wouldn't say I was fully 100%, but who's ever 100% in December?" Jones said. "But definitely getting back to myself and feeling better each week as the weeks go on. Hopefully next week I come out there and I am 100%."
If totaling 135 yards from scrimmage (including 127 yards on 21 carries) isn't Jones at his best, then perhaps it bodes well for the Packers in their final two must-win games against the Vikings and Bears.
The Packers entered the day with just one individual 100-yard scrimmage game all season -- 41 rushing and 86 receiving by Jones in Week 1 at Chicago.
They were the only team entering Week 16 that did not have multiple 100-yard rushing performances this season. Jones' 127-yard rushing performance was the Packers' first 100-yard rushing game since Week 17 last season, also by Jones.
The Packers improved to 20-2 when Jones has rushed for at least 90 yards in a game and 16-2 when he has hit the century mark.
The only two times the Packers have hit 30 points this season were in Jones' two big games -- Week 1 and Sunday.
"Obviously, we all know what type of player Aaron Jones is," quarterback Jordan Love said. "Just being able to get him back 100% healthy was huge, and he had a great day rushing the ball, made some plays in the pass game too. Just whenever we can get him back 100%, try and get him the ball as much as possible. We know what type of player he is."
Jones opened with runs of 10 and 13 yards on the Packers' first two plays from scrimmage. By his fifth carry, he had 77 yards -- which had already topped the team's single-game high for rushing this season (AJ Dillon with 76 yards in Week 5 against the Raiders).
Jones went over 100 yards late in the third quarter when he carried four straight times to set up Romeo Doubs' 4-yard touchdown and put the Packers ahead 30-16.
"I think any time you have the caliber of a back like Aaron Jones," coach Matt LaFleur said, "it really opens up other things in your offense."
Enter Doubs (four catches for 79 yards) and rookie tight end Tucker Kraft (four catches for 60 yards), who each made critical catches on the go-ahead drive after the Packers' defense had just blown a two-touchdown lead.
That's when Doubs had a message for Jones.
"As soon as we got in the huddle, Romeo, he pulled me aside and gave me a hug and said, 'Me and you, we gotta go make a play,'" Jones said.
After Jones carried twice for gains of 4 and 2 yards, the Packers faced third-and-4 from their own 31. Carolina already had all the momentum, and if the Packers failed there, they would've had to punt it away before the two-minute warning. Instead, Doubs made a leaping sideline grab for 36 yards -- that stood up to replay scrutiny -- to set up the go-ahead field goal with 19 seconds to play.
"He catches it [and] I said, 'This is a bad man,'" Jones said of Doubs, who had four catches for 79 yards. "That's exactly what we just talked about. One of us had to make a play. He goes down there and makes a spectacular catch. That speaks volumes."
Who knows what Jones' future holds? He's a 29-year-old running back scheduled to make $12 million next season, if he's on the team. But at least the Packers have Jones back for the final push toward the playoffs.
"That's how he's been; he's been that dude," Doubs said. "It's easy outside looking in to speak on what he's done. He's had some trials and tribulations throughout the course of this year, but I'm not surprised that he played the way he did because that's how he always plays."