We’re only a week away from training camp, but we’re still finding out new information about the 2025 Green Bay Packers, if you can believe it. I’m sure the news that the Packers tried to keep their possessions low in 2025 isn’t going to be a shock to fans who watched the team’s games last year, but the rate at which they did so is eye-popping.
Shoutout to Rich Hribar of Sharp Football Analysis, who unearthed this stat: The Packers’ 8.9 possessions per game (that didn’t end in kneeldowns) were the lowest rate of any team in any season since at least 1999.
This was a byproduct of multiple things:
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Green Bay wanting to operate a run-first offense, which ran time off the clock and led to long offensive drives.
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Green Bay playing a bend-don’t-break defense, which was a result of opposing offenses not wanting to do anything but throw quick game passes and run the ball when Micah Parsons was inserted into the lineup.
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Green Bay’s run defense fell short, which led to opposing offenses staying on the field for long drives.
This might be the second-most telling stat of the 2025 Packers’ season, only behind the one below, which shows that Green Bay was essentially a top-5 defense in every major category over their first two drives of games in 2025 before they collapsed to one of the worst defenses in football from drive #3 and on:
If we’re doing the autopsy of the 2025 Packers, it’s that they got worn out quickly on defense and opposing offenses were able to hold onto the ball at will, which led to extremely short-possession games. If Green Bay wants to continue to play this way, they either need to get much more efficient on offense (particularly in the run game) or need to be able to stop the run better in 2026.
