GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Green Bay running back Josh Jacobs said he aggravated his knee injury early in the Packers’ loss at Denver on Sunday, but he still believes he should play Saturday at Chicago.
Jacobs scored two touchdowns in the 34-26 loss to the Broncos after being listed as questionable before the game because of his knee, which kept him from playing in a Nov. 23 win over Minnesota. Jacobs said he hurt his knee again early in the game against the Broncos.
Although the Packers only had a walk-through Tuesday, coach Matt LaFleur said Jacobs wouldn’t have participated in a full workout. Jacobs says he thinks he ought to be ready by Saturday.
“If it’s up to me, yeah, for sure I’m going to try to go,” Jacobs said.
Jacobs explained why he’s able to play through such injuries.
“For me, it’s harder to watch games than it is to play hurt,” Jacobs said. “So, for me, I’d rather try to contribute in some type of fashion, even if it’s in a limited fashion, than just sit there and watch the whole time. I’ve always had that kind of mindset.”
Jacobs had 12 carries for 73 yards — including a season-long 40-yard touchdown — and caught three passes for 19 yards against Denver. He added his first receiving TD of the season — a spectacular, contested 14-yard reception.
Both of his touchdowns came after he aggravated the injury.
“Sometimes you’ve got to talk to yourself, man,” Jacobs said. “It was hurting when I was running.”
Jacobs said the pain was apparent to his father, who noticed the look the 27-year-old had on his face while running.
As he talked about his chances of playing Saturday, Jacobs said he and LaFleur occasionally have disagreed about whether he’s healthy enough to play.
“One thing I will say about this organization is that they do truly have your best interests at heart,” Jacobs said. “Like, it’d be certain times where they’re like, ‘Man, I wouldn’t advise you to do it. You might just need to rest or whatever,’ but ultimately I think it comes down to me. It’s my decision at the end of the day. What do I feel? Do I feel like I’m going to hinder the team? Do I feel like I can add value to the team? If I feel like I can, I’m going to do everything I can to play.”
After earning his third Pro Bowl selection last season — his first with the Packers — Jacobs has rushed for 890 yards and 13 touchdowns on 218 carries this year. Jacobs and Detroit’s Jahmyr Gibbs are tied for second in the NFL in touchdown runs behind Indianapolis’ Jonathan Taylor, who has 16.
The Packers (9-4-1) could use Jacobs on Saturday. They have numerous other players dealing with injuries heading into their showdown with the NFC North-leading Bears (10-4).
Pass rusher Micah Parsons is out for the season after tearing an ACL at Denver. Offensive tackle Zach Tom (back/knee), wide receiver Christian Watson (chest/shoulder) and safety Evan Williams (knee) were among the other players who got hurt on Sunday.
“This injury list is pretty substantial, so we’ve got a lot of things to figure out over these next couple of days,” LaFleur said.
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Green Bay Packers' Josh Jacobs runs for a touchdown during the second half of an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Green Bay Packers' Josh Jacobs runs during the second half of an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs heads off the field after an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is ordering a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on the country’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro in a move that seemed designed to put a tighter chokehold on the South American country's economy.
Trump's escalation comes after U.S. forces last week seized an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast, an unusual move that followed a buildup of military forces in the region. In a post on social media Tuesday night announcing the blockade, Trump alleged Venezuela was using oil to fund drug trafficking and other crimes and vowed to continue the military buildup until the country gave the U.S. oil, land and assets, though it was not clear why he felt the U.S. had a claim.
“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform. “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.”
Pentagon officials referred all questions about the post to the White House.
The buildup has been accompanied by a series of military strikes on boats in international waters in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. The campaign, which has drawn bipartisan scrutiny among U.S. lawmakers, has killed at least 95 people in 25 known strikes on vessels.
The Trump administration has defended it as a success, saying it has prevented drugs from reaching American shores, and they pushed back on concerns that it is stretching the bounds of lawful warfare.
The Trump administration has said the campaign is about stopping drugs headed to the U.S., but Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles appeared to confirm in a Vanity Fair interview published Tuesday that the campaign is part of a push to oust Maduro.
Wiles said Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.”
Tuesday night's announcement seemed to have a similar aim.
Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves and produces about 1 million barrels a day, has long relied on oil revenue as a lifeblood of its economy.
Since the Trump administration began imposing oil sanctions on Venezuela in 2017, Maduro’s government has relied on a shadowy fleet of unflagged tankers to smuggle crude into global supply chains.
The state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., commonly known as PDVSA, has been locked out of global oil markets by U.S. sanctions. It sells most of its exports at a steep discount in the black market in China.
Francisco Monaldi, a Venezuelan oil expert at Rice University in Houston, said about 850,000 barrels of the 1 million daily production is exported. Of that, he said, 80% goes to China, 15% to 17% goes to the U.S. through Chevron Corp., and the remainder goes to Cuba.
It wasn't immediately clear how the U.S. planned to enact what Trump called a “TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela.”
But the U.S. Navy has 11 ships, including an aircraft carrier and several amphibious assault ships, in the region.
Those ships carry a wide complement of aircraft, including helicopters and V-22 Ospreys. Additionally, the Navy has been operating a handful of P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft in the region.
All told, those assets provide the military a significant ability to monitor marine traffic coming in and out of the country.
Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin in Washington and Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.
President Nicolas Maduro joins a rally marking the anniversary of the Battle of Santa Ines, which took place during Venezuela's 19th-century Federal War, in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)
President Donald Trump speaks during a Mexican Border Defense Medal presentation in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
