The Green Bay Packers managed to blow three games in 2025 where they held double-digit leads in the final minutes, including a crushing 21-3 halftime lead against Chicago in the Wild Card round. The actual odds of that happening for any team were 1-in-250,000, but Green Bay somehow pulled it off, and now they’re staring down the barrel of 2026 with the league’s fourth-longest losing streak.
The Green Bay Meltdown Nobody Saw Coming
Talk about a gut punch. Last year, the Packers kicked off 2025 with one of the NFL’s top rosters, then traded for star defensive end Micah Parsons just ten days before the season even started. Everyone in Packer Nation was dreaming of a Super Bowl appearance, their first since 2010. What happened instead? A shockingly unsatisfying 9-8-1 record, landing them the NFC’s No. 7 seed for the third year in a row. The Wild Card game against arch-rival Chicago was pure agony. They were up 21-3 at halftime, then coughed up 25 fourth-quarter points to lose 31-27. Running back Josh Jacobs laid it out cold: “No way you should lose games in this league when you’re up that much.” They started 9-3-1, then just completely collapsed, dropping five straight to end the season. Safety Javon Bullard wasn’t holding back either, calling it “damn-near embarrassing.” With hits in free agency and no first-round draft pick, rebounding won’t be easy.
Josh Jacobs Is Still Delivering Legendary Numbers
Lost in all that chaos is the fact that Josh Jacobs, listed as the No. 7 most important Packer for the upcoming season, was an absolute beast. Last year, he started 15 games, rushing for a team-high 929 yards and 13 touchdowns on 234 carries. That 4.0 yards per average is solid, but those 13 touchdowns? Incredible! He joined Jim Taylor from way back in the 60s as the only players in team history to rack up 13-plus rushing touchdowns in back-to-back seasons. Jacobs tied for fourth in the NFL in rushing touchdowns, and get this, he scored a rushing touchdown in 10 games, which tied for No. 1 in the entire league. He also snagged 36 receptions for 282 yards and a receiving touchdown. The man was doing it all, even while battling a knee injury in Week 12 and getting a healthy scratch in Week 18.
A Career of Unstoppable Production
Jacobs isn’t just a flash in the pan either. Since entering the league in 2019, he ranks No. 2 in the NFL in rushing yards with 7,803 and rushing touchdowns with 74. He’s also No. 3 in yards from scrimmage with a staggering 9,875. We’re talking about elite company here: he’s one of only four players in league history to hit 7,500-plus rushing yards, 70-plus rushing touchdowns, 250-plus receptions, and 2,000-plus receiving yards in his first seven NFL seasons, joining Emmitt Smith, LaDainian Tomlinson, and Barry Sanders. He’s also the *only* player in the league to register 1,100-plus yards from scrimmage and six-plus scrimmage touchdowns in each of the last seven seasons. This dude is a certified, consistent star, a two-time All-Pro in 2020 and 2022. Green Bay’s first training camp practice kicks off July 29. You gotta wonder if Jacobs can drag this team out of the hole they’ve dug themselves.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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