GREEN BAY, Wis. — As the clock ticked to the final seconds of a wild game at Lambeau Field, Aaron Jones looked across the line of scrimmage. The Vikings’ running back caught the eye of several of his former Packers teammates — and only then did the trash talking begin.
“As we were taking that last kneel,” Jones said after the Vikings’ 31-29 victory, “the Packers’ defense said like, ‘We didn’t let you Lambeau Leap here. We didn’t let you Lambeau Leap in our house.’ I was like, ‘You guys are worried about me Lambeau Leaping? You guys should be worried about the score. I came here and got what I wanted.
“It was special.”
Jones carried 22 times for 93 yards but did not score a touchdown in his first game here since leaving the Packers in March and signing a free agent contract with the Vikings. That meant he couldn’t perform the traditional Lambeau Leap after scoring, which he said last week he was determined to do.
Jones, however, was more than happy to have escaped with a win after the Packers whittled down the Vikings’ 28-0 first-half lead into a one-score game in the fourth quarter.
“This is what I came here for,” Jones said. “If someone had told me, ‘Hey, you’ll go in and have a good game. You won’t score but you’ll get the [win],’ I’d say that’s what I’m here for. At the end of the day, as long as we win, it doesn’t matter who is putting the points on the board, as long as they’re being put up.”
Quarterback Sam Darnold threw three touchdown passes — one each to Jordan Addison, Josh Oliver and Justin Jefferson — and Addison scored a second time on a jet sweep.,
Jones still felt the full effect of his return, as Packers fans gave him a warm pregame ovation and then allowed him to take a post-game jump into the stands as well.
“It was just a full-circle moment,” Jones said, “knowing that everything I do on the field is cool, but I’m remembered for what I’ve done off the field for this community. I think that says a lot about me and I think that’s one of the things I’m most happiest about.
“One day, they’re going to forget about you in this football world, say, 100 years from now, 200 years. They’re going to have other players. They’re not even going to know your name. But it’s the stamp that you leave in the community and what you do off the field, is what your legacy will be.”