Packers Grounded in the Motor City

By Eric Goska

Packers running back Josh Jacobs
(photos by Eric Goska)

Green Bay’s Josh Jacobs returned. The team’s running game did not.

Even with their leading rusher of the past two seasons in the fold, the Packers’ ground game sputtered in a 20-17 loss to the Lions at Ford Field. For the seventh time in seven games this season, Green Bay fell short of 90 yards rushing.

That’s a first for this storied franchise that entered the NFL 1921. Seven sub-90 games to start a season eclipses the mark of six straight set by the 1986 club that finished 4-12.

Jacobs, who had been on the commissioner’s exempt list, made his first start of the season. The Packers leading rusher in 2024 (1,329 yards) and in 2025 (929) gained more yards receiving (55) than he did rushing (36).

No. 8 carried 11 times, was responsible for three of Green Bay’s four rushing first downs and popped the team’s longest run (10 yards). But five times he was limited to two or fewer yards.

MarShawn Lloyd and Savion Williams didn’t fare any better. The two combined for 24 yards on eight totes with a long of six.

That's it. A whopping 60 yards on 19 carries for the stuck-in-neutral visitors.

Packers head coach Matt LaFleur

Not once did Green Bay run on three consecutive plays, a development that signals a lack of confidence. Since 1954, the Packers are 9-55 in regular-season games in which they fail to run more than twice in succession.

To date, the Packers have gained an NFL-low 419 yards rushing. They are averaging a league-worst 2.91 yards per attempt.

Thirteen players, led by the Falcons’ Bijan Robinson with 704, have more rushing yards than the Green and Gold as a team. Ten have more rushing first downs than Green Bay’s 27.

In recent weeks, Green Bay’s running game has been labeled nonexistent, terrible, even slumbering (SI’s Bill Huber). Whatever the adjective, it’s historically bad.

What follows is based on the first seven games of a season dating to 1933.

• The 419 yards gained is a franchise low. Just twice before – 484 in 1986 and 499 in 2007 – has Green Bay come up with fewer than 500.
• Its 126 carries are fourth fewest behind the 112 of 1991, the 119 of 1990 and the 121 of 2007.
• The team’s average per carry of 2.91 is third worst behind the 2.82 of 1934 and the 2.87 of 1933. It should be noted that those marks of yesteryear were set during the days (prior to 1947) when yards lost attempting to pass were subtracted from rushing, not passing, totals.
• The Packers have produced 23 runs of more than five yards. That’s a 94-year low both in number and in percentage of attempts.
• Lloyd leads Green Bay with 142 rushing yards which translates to 345 over a 17-game season. His average of 20.3 yards per game would be the second-fewest by a player to lead the team trailing only the 19.4 of Michael Haddix who had 311 yards in 1990.

Savion Williams

Those are some sorry numbers. Numbers that drive home just how far the club has fallen since 2024 when it averaged 146.8 yards per game and 4.75 per carry.

With land acquisition all but choked off, the Packers have turned to the air. Jordan Love is dropping back to pass nearly two thirds of the time (66.4 percent), a big ask of a quarterback and his receivers.

Only the Packers of 2018 (67.5) were more pass-happy. And that team, which finished 6-9-1, got head coach Mike McCarthy fired.

So, how does Green Bay bolster its run game? Some might say play the Panthers who are yielding a league-high 5.2 yards per carry.

But Carolina’s defense, which surrendered 291 and 258 rushing yards to the Bears and Buccaneers, also clamped down on the Lions (46) and Eagles (35). The safe money says Green Bay will fall into that latter category Thursday night at Lambeau Field.

Grounded
The six Packers teams that averaged less than three yards a carry through the first seven games of a season.
   Avg.        Year      Atts.    Yds.     90+ Games         Record
  2.819        1934         259       730                 5                         7-6
  2.873        1933         275       790                 5                       5-7-1
  2.910        2026         144       419                 0                         4-3
  2.942        1977         225       662                 4                        4-10
  2.988        1946         338     1,010               5                         6-5
  2.989        1951         188       562                 2                         3-9