The Green Bay Packers spent much of last season making third down easier than it looked.
According to analytics expert Warren Sharp, Green Bay ranked fourth in the NFL with an average of 6.4 yards to go on third down.
The Packers finished behind the Los Angeles Rams and Buffalo Bills, while matching the San Francisco 49ers at 6.4 yards.
The number offers a useful measure of how consistently Matt LaFleur’s offense stayed on schedule before reaching the money down.
The Packers regularly gave Jordan Love manageable situations and converted them at an elite rate, yet the season still ended at 9-7-1 with another early playoff exit.
That combination makes the statistic encouraging but also uncomfortable; Green Bay puts themselves in a great spot to keep the chains moving, but it didn’t get them close enough to Super Bowl contention.
Packers Created Manageable Third Downs, Then Converted
Packers quarterback Jordan Love talks with head coach Matt LaFleur.
Sharp’s ranking also extends to third-down conversion itself.
Green Bay converted 100 of 205 third downs during the regular season, a 48.8% success rate that ranked second in the league behind San Francisco.
The Packers were already operating at an even higher level early in the season.
Through four games, the team led the NFL with a 53.7% third-down conversion rate, and Love credited the protection in front of him.
“It starts up front with the pass pro,” Love told Packers.com in October.
Love also pointed to receivers winning one-on-one matchups, while offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich credited the quarterback’s ability to extend plays.
An average distance between 6 and 7 yards leaves far more of LaFleur’s playbook available than third-and-10. A defense must account for quick throws, crossing routes, quarterback movement and the occasional run.
The Packers are building around a quarterback who has thrown 80 touchdown passes with fewer than 30 interceptions since becoming the starter in 2023.
Green Bay’s official website noted that only Matthew Stafford and Lamar Jackson have also reached those marks over the same three-year stretch.
Green Bay Still Left Too Much Value on the Field
GettyGreen Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur addressed how quarterback Jordan Love played in the team’s 31-27 playoff loss to the Chicago Bears on Jan. 11, 2026.
The third-down results make the offense’s final output harder to dismiss as a simple execution problem.
Green Bay scored 391 points, an average of 23.0 per game, despite owning one of the NFL’s best conversion rates.
The Packers then lost 31-27 to the Chicago Bears in the wild-card round after entering the postseason as the NFC’s No. 7 seed for the third consecutive year.
There were fewer opportunities to recover from stalled drives.
The Packers averaged 8.9 non-kneeldown possessions per game in 2025, the lowest figure for any team since at least 1999, via an analysis of Sharp Football data by Acme Packing Company.
Green Bay also struggled to finish near the goal line.
Acme Packing Company found that the offense scored touchdowns on 12.8% of its plays between the opponent’s 4- and 10-yard lines, ranking 28th in the NFL.
That’s where the third-down advantage has to progress into scoring points.
Shorter distances helped the Packers keep drives alive, but a low-possession offense can’t afford empty trips once it crosses midfield.
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