Packers Plagued by Worst Rushing Attack … Ever?

The Green Bay Packers’ running game isn’t just abysmal. On Thursday night, it was nonexistent.

The Packers were credited with nine running plays in their blowout loss to the Atlanta Falcons. Really, it was only eight – four handoffs to MarShawn Lloyd, four to Kaleb Johnson and the lateral that Tucker Kraft fielded officially was counted as a 0-yard run and fumble by Jordan Love.

The final tally was nine rushes for 17 yards. Over the last decade, it was the ninth-fewest rushing attempts for the 10th-fewest yards by any NFL team.

It was the fewest rushes and yards in a game over that span for the Packers. Dating back over the last 80 seasons, the Packers had run the ball fewer times only once (seven in a loss to Miami in 1994) and for fewer yards on only two other occasions (12 yards in a loss to Tampa Bay in 1999 and 13 yards in a loss to Seattle in 1990).

“I think you need to have some semblance of a running game to complement the pass game at least to keep people on their heels so they just don’t tee off and get after the quarterback,” coach and play-caller Matt LaFleur said after the game.

Stathead has team rushing data going back to 1933. Their 146 rushing yards in the first three games is their lowest total ever, beating the 1994 team’s 169.

How About NFL History?

In 1947, the NFL made an important statistical change. While the NFL didn’t recognize the term “sack” until 1982, yards lost when a quarterback was sacked would no longer come off the rushing total. (The NCAA, for some reason, still subtracts sack yards from rushing totals.)

So, the true measuring stick for the worst rushing season in NFL history has to start in 1947.

The Packers’ 146 rushing yards to start the season works out to a 17-game total of 827. Eliminating the strike season of 1982, when teams played only nine games, Green Bay’s rushing total is on track to be the worst in NFL history.

By a huge margin.

The worst rushing total on record is the 1947 Boston Yankees, who rushed for 973 yards during their 12-game season.

Remember, our Packers projection for this season is 827 yards over 17 games. So, it’s not just that the Packers are trending toward having the worst rushing attack in NFL history, it’d be the worst by a proverbial mile.

The NFL went to a 14-game season in 1961. The worst rushing attack of the past six-plus decades belongs to the 1965 Washington Redskins, who rushed for 1,037 yards. (The 1963 New York Jets of the AFL rushed for 978 yards.)

The NFL and AFL officially merged in 1970. The worst rushing attack since then was the 1970 Boston Patriots, who rushed for 1,040 yards in 14 games.

The NFL went to a 16-game season in 1978. The worst rushing during the 16-game era belonged to the 2000 San Diego Chargers, who rushed for 1,062 yards.

How about averages?

The Packers are averaging 48.7 rushing yards per game to start the season. Since the big statistical change in 1947, those 2000 Chargers have the lowest per-game average at 66.4 per game. That’s almost a 20-yard difference. 

Green Bay’s 3.0-yard average would be tied for the fourth-worst since the merger and tied for the worst since 1993.

Individual Rushing “Leaders”

The Packers drafted MarShawn Lloyd in the third round in 2024 to potentially be the leader of the backfield. And, sure enough, he is – which is a backhanded way to note he leads the team with 68 rushing yards. That’s 22.7 yards per game for a 17-game pace of 385 rushing yards.

That would be the lowest rushing total for a Packers team leader since Michael Haddix rushed for 311 yards during the 16-game 1990 season. That would be 330 rushing yards over 17 games, so Lloyd is on track to comfortably get over that bar, but it would be the second-lowest team-leading figure since 1929, the first year of their championship three-peat.

Hall of Famer Paul Hornung led the team with 310 rushing yards in 1958, but that’s a 17-game pace of 439. Quarterback Tobin Rote rushed for 313 yards in 1952, but that was also over 12 games.

In 1945, Ted Fritsch led the team with 282 rushing yards but that was over a 10-game season, so it projects to 479 yards over 17 games.

The lowest team-leading rushing total over the past 100 years belongs to Verne Lewellen in 1926. He rushed for 275 yards in 13 games. That’s a 17-game pace of 360 yards. However, he was one of the team’s primary passers so his rushing total might have been impacted by sacks.

The lowest team-leading rushing total in franchise history belongs to Curly Lambeau, who rushed for 203 yards during the team’s 10-game debut season in the NFL in 1922. That’s a 17-game pace of 345 yards, though that might have been impacted by sacks, as well.

Rushing And Team Success

Since the 1970 merger, with the Boston Patriots “leading” the way with 1,040 rushing yards, 40 teams have finished the season with 1,270 rushing yards or less. Only three finished with a winning record, but none were better than 9-7.

Remember, the Packers are averaging 48.7 rushing yards per game. No team in NFL history has qualified for the playoffs while rushing for less than 73 rushing yards per game.

The Packers have 146 rushing yards in three games. The Falcons’ Bijan Robinson had more yards by himself in the first three quarters on Thursday. Entering Sunday’s slate of games, nine individual players have more rushing yards in two games than the Packers have in three.

“I think we got to continue to work with these guys and try to figure out what we do well, because right now I don’t know what we’re doing well offensively,” LaFleur said. “We can all see the benefit of having a strong rushing attack, how you can get into normal rhythm on offense and that’ll open up a lot of things in the passing game.

“But anytime you drop back 50-some-odd times in a game and have nine rushes, it’s usually not going to bode well for you.”