The Green Bay Packers’ offense has become a problem that reaches far beyond one side of the ball. It is short-circuiting drives, leaving points on the field and putting the defense in a brutal spot possession after possession.
The numbers tell the story plainly. As first noted by Packers Wire’s Mark Oldacres, Green Bay is dead last in the NFL in average time per drive at two minutes and 16 seconds. That’s not just inefficient - it’s a team barely getting through the door before it has to leave the field again.
The Packers are struggling in plenty of other categories too. According to data from RBSDM, their offense is 30th in “series conversion” and sits at a lowly 57.5 percent first-down percentage. They’ve scored touchdowns on only 7.5 percent of their 80 drives, which ranks 21st in the league, and they’ve punted 17.5 percent of the time, the fifth-most in the NFL.
All of that adds up to the same basic issue: the Packers can’t string together meaningful drives, and they aren’t scoring enough when they do get moving.
That matters because it’s making life miserable for the defense. Oldacres noted that Green Bay’s defense is facing the third-most drives in the league, at an average of 12 per game.
When the offense keeps ending possessions quickly and failing to cash in, the defense is stuck absorbing the wear and tear. Eventually, that kind of workload shows up in missed stops and explosive plays.
The pattern has already been on display in both losses. In Week 1, Brian Flores kept blitzing the Packers, forcing the defense back onto the field over and over until Minnesota finally broke through. Against the Falcons, Green Bay’s defense held up for about a quarter and a half, but the offense’s rapid-fire possessions - along with poor defensive play, to be fair - eventually gave way to a lopsided finish.
Matt LaFleur’s teams have generally been built around a clear formula: control the ball, finish drives and limit the opponent’s chances. That approach has fallen apart here, and the offensive line is at the center of it. The Packers also haven’t been able to run the ball or generate enough positive plays to keep the clock moving.
Instead, they’re going three-and-out too often and doing it in ugly situations. Green Bay is 31st in the NFL in average third-down distance at 8.8 yards, which only makes the conversion problem worse.
The fix starts up front. That’s easier to say than to do, because it depends on the current players developing or outside help making a real difference.
But the task is clear enough: the Packers have to find a way to extend drives, because this isn’t just dragging down the offense. It’s dragging down the defense with it.
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Packers O-Line Issues Forced Gutekunst To Finally Act
After the loss to the Atlanta Falcons, Brian Gutekunst finally said out loud what has been obvious for weeks: the Packers offensive line was in trouble. Injuries and uneven play up front have helped drag down the run game and left Jordan Love taking too many hits, turning a preseason concern into a real in-season problem for Green Bay.
Gutekunsts first move was to bring in veteran guard Laken Tomlinson from the Dallas Cowboys practice squad, a clear sign the Packers are trying to patch things before the damage gets worse. Whether one addition is enough to stabilize a line that has already been through so much is still the bigger question hanging over the offense. [Read more 🡒]