Green Bay Packers Star Aaron Jones Devastated After the Biggest Loss of His Life
The Green Bay Packers were crushed when their season came to an end at home in the NFC title game at the hands of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Now their star running back, Aaron Jones, has suffered a devastating loss that will stay with him for years to come.
The Green Bay Packers still trying to get over the hump
The Green Bay Packers had everything all set up for them last year. They were the No. 1 seed in the NFC and the road to the Super Bowl had to go through the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field. The Packers made quick work of the Los Angeles Rams after their first-round bye and had one team standing in their way of a Super Bowl berth.
Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, seeded fifth in the NFC playoffs, had just won their second straight postseason game on the road. They, too, were hot and entered Green Bay as a three-point underdog. The Packers were playing in their second straight NFC Championship Game, but this one was right in their own backyard.
Green Bay let it slip away. Brady and the Bucs got off to a quick start and then the Packers choked it away on the final play before the half when cornerback Kevin King let Scottie Miller get behind him for a back-breaking touchdown. The Packers then failed to capitalize on three Brady interceptions in the second half and wound up losing 31-26.
Aaron Jones loses more than the game
While Green Bay Packers running back Aaron Jones was crushed by the loss after a not-so-Jones-like performance against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he recently lost something much more important than a game. Jones announced on Instagram on Tuesday that his father, Alvin Jones, Sr., died suddenly at the age of 57.
“Heart torn into a million pieces,” Jones wrote in his post. “I’m so proud of you I love You Dad I promise I’ll always protect and take care of our Queen and the rest Family you’ve raise me and have been preparing vino and I for 26 years! Can’t even imagine game days without you by my side haven’t missed a game in 9 years and it scares me to think about it but I know you have the best seat in the stadium and you’re forever engraved in me and I’ll carry our Name high and be great like you’ve pushed me all my life!”
Alvin Jones was a military man and instilled discipline into his sons. According to Packers beat writer Matt Schneidman, Aaron Jones always refers to reporters as “sir” and “ma’am” as a sign of respect. Alvin Jones was Aaron Jones’ biggest fan.
Jones said his father taught him everything
In a first-person story written in The Players’ Tribune last June, Aaron Jones wrote about the respect and appreciation he had for his father. The headline of the article is “Two Fathers” and it was written two months after the birth of Aaron’s son, Aaron Jr.
“I still remember when my father told me that he had grown up without a father,” Jones wrote. “I was only five or six at the time. He told us that he was so involved in our lives because he had never met his own dad. When he started having kids he’d told himself that he was going to do everything in his power to show his children what a man is supposed to be like, and how he’s supposed to take care of his children. And he continued to remind me and my twin brother, Alvin, about that fact all throughout our childhood.”
Aaron Jones has quite the mentor and he always showed his appreciation for his dad. “But he was always there,” he wrote. “That was the main thing — that was way more important than me getting bugged about something that had happened at practice. He and my mom were never far away. She was like the team mom, always driving us around in her magenta Nissan Quest. She would be bringing snacks for after the game, cutting up oranges at halftime. They were both always around, with encouragement and guidance.”
