Late in Thursday’s game, the Packers needed two yards.

They had an eight-point lead over Carolina and just wanted to keep the clock moving, burn some time, and make sure Bryce Young didn’t get another real chance to bring the Panthers back. In that spot, having Josh Jacobs in the backfield is supposed to make things a little easier.

Instead, Green Bay threw the ball.

Jordan Love found Christian Watson — who had just come back from the hospital on an ambulance just a few minutes earlier — for the first down. The Packers eventually punted anyway, but that play captured where this offense is right now. Even when the situation practically screams for a handoff, their best answer still seems to be asking Love to make another throw.

Green Bay's now 5-3 after beating the Panthers 27-19, and the Packers have won four of their last five since Atlanta embarrassed them at Lambeau Field in September. There’s plenty here to take seriously.

But there’s also a running game that keeps turning two yards into a much bigger problem than they should be.

The Running Game Really Is This Bad

Through eight games, Green Bay's rushed for 485 yards on 170 attempts. That comes out to 60.6 yards a game and not even three yards a carry.

Thursday was supposed to be a good chance to fix that.

Carolina showed up with the NFL’s worst rushing defense after giving up 258 yards to Tampa Bay. Jacobs was back for his second game after missing the first six on the commissioner’s exempt list. The Packers were at home.

And they finished with 66 rushing yards.

Jacobs carried 21 times for 39 yards. His longest run went for six. Savion Williams had an 18-yard reverse, which means everyone else combined for 48 yards on 25 attempts. That’s a whole lot of work for less than two yards every time the offense handed the ball to somebody who wasn’t a receiver running around the formation.

This wasn’t one of those games where Green Bay fell behind by three touchdowns and had no choice but to abandon the run. The Packers led 20-10 at halftime and 27-10 in the third quarter. They had plenty of chances to run the ball.

They just didn’t have much reason to believe anything good was coming if they did.

Love’s Given Them Something They Can Trust

Love completed 30 of 41 passes for 288 yards and three touchdowns Thursday. He found Tucker Kraft, Matthew Golden, and Jacobs for scores, and finished with a 106.6 passer rating despite throwing a fourth-quarter interception.

Matt LaFleur said afterward:

He’s carrying the burden of everything right now.

That’s a pretty fair way to describe the job.

Love has to make up for the yards Green Bay isn’t getting on the ground. He has to keep drives moving when those handoffs put the offense behind schedule. And when the Packers build a lead, he’s still asked to keep throwing because they can’t consistently close games out with the run.

He hasn’t done all of that perfectly. But October looked a whole lot better than September.

Love completed 52.4% of his passes over the first three games, with an 83.5 passer rating. In five October games, those numbers jumped to 67.6% and 98.3. The Packers went 4-1 during that stretch.

The encouraging part is that getting the ball out quickly hasn’t meant giving up on downfield throws.

Fantasy Points Data has Love averaging 2.43 seconds to throw, with an average target depth of 9.33 yards. Those numbers can work together when a quarterback sees the opening early and trusts where his receiver's going.

Watson gives him somebody worth trusting. Golden gives defenses another receiver who can hurt them downfield. Kraft can make them pay underneath.

The Packers have enough receiving talent to make passing their identity. And Love’s play lately has given them a pretty good reason to lean into it.

LaFleur’s Helped Make This Possible

Love deserves credit for making the throws. LaFleur deserves credit for giving him better chances to make them.

Against Tampa Bay in Week 4, Green Bay bumped their play-action usage up to 30% of dropbacks after using it on just 18.2% over the first three games. Screen usage jumped from 6.8% to 16.7%, too. Moving the launch point, getting the ball out quickly, and making defenders hesitate gave a struggling offensive line some much-needed help.

The protection changes mattered, too. Laken Tomlinson and Travis Glover moved into the starting lineup at guard against Tampa Bay, and Love finished the game without taking a sack.

That’s a coaching adjustment and a personnel adjustment working together. Give Love a cleaner picture, and he can play faster. When he plays faster, the protection gets a little easier, too.

Through Thursday, Love's completing 69.7% of his play-action passes, averaging 8.42 yards per attempt with five touchdowns, no interceptions, and a 120.5 rating. Without play-action, his rating's 84.9.

Those splits don’t mean another fake handoff is going to fix everything. But they’re a pretty good reason to keep using the looks that make defenders hesitate.

Chicago found that out the hard way. Love completed 12 of 14 play-action passes for 245 yards against the Bears. Green Bay still couldn’t run the ball efficiently, but the linebackers and safeties had responsibilities to honor, and Love made them pay.

You don’t get to ignore a run fake just because the last handoff gained a yard.

There’s A Difference Between Moving The Ball And Finishing

The problem is that Green Bay’s found ways to move the ball, but they still haven’t found a dependable way to finish drives.

Detroit was the clearest warning.

The Packers had a 57.1% success rate on first-down passes against the Lions. There were productive opportunities early in drives, before the offense got boxed into obvious passing situations.

Play-action, though, was a different story. That was at minus-0.64 expected points added per play. Something that’s worked well for Green Bay overall just wasn’t there that afternoon.

That’s why this is more complicated than telling LaFleur to call his best plays more often.

The Packers made four red-zone trips in Detroit and came away with seven points. Missed kicks and a failed fourth down helped turn those chances into a 20-17 loss.

Thursday brought real progress: three touchdowns on three red-zone trips. But Love also threw an interception from Carolina’s 27-yard line early in the fourth quarter, with Green Bay leading 27-13 and already in position to try a field goal.

Against better defenses, the easy completions won’t always be there. Opponents will crowd the underneath routes and make Love hold the ball for an extra beat. Green Bay has to keep finding answers when the first one disappears.

That’s the test still waiting for this offense.

Jacobs Can’t Fix The Blocking By Himself

Having Jacobs back will start to help some. But expecting him to fix everything was always asking a lot.

He's averaging 0.88 yards before contact across his first two games. That’s a small sample, but it’s tough to build a comfortable rushing offense when the back's running into resistance before he’s even gained a full yard.

There are some understandable reasons the blocking has been hard to settle down.

Sean Rhyan and backup Jacob Monk both left the Detroit game, which forced John Williams into his NFL debut at center. Against Carolina, Aaron Banks came back at left guard, Tomlinson moved to right guard, and Williams made his first start.

Continuity could help. It still has to turn into something on the field.

Green Bay needs a few concepts the players they actually have out there can run over and over. Stop letting penetration blow up the play immediately. Get the combinations working. Give Jacobs somewhere to go.

Nobody’s asking for 150 yards every Sunday. Start by making second-and-2 feel like something you can actually convert.

The defense has given them some room to figure it out. Green Bay held Tampa Bay, Chicago, and Dallas to 14 points or less during their three-game winning streak. Against Carolina, they came up with six sacks and two second-half fourth-down stops.

Love's given the Packers a passing offense they can build around while the rest gets sorted out. That’s why this stretch feels like something they can sustain.

But the best version of this team can’t ask for another perfect throw every time they needs to convert a short third down.

Love talked about that on Thursday:

We’ve got to improve because, especially late in the game, you’ve got to be able to lean on that.

He’s earned the right to expect a little help.

All stats courtesy of Fantasy Points Data.

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