There is something that is distinctly missing from the Green Bay offense: the run game.  Fans of the Green and Gold have not seen a solid run game since the 2003 season, when Ahman Green ran for 1883 yards, 15 touchdowns and the Packers averaged 5.3 yards a carry.  The closest the Packers came since was 2007,  when the Packers rushing corp gave us 1534 yards, averaging 4.4 yards a rush for 13 touchdowns.

Mike McCarthy came to Green Bay with a plan to incorporate a zone running scheme (for a great explanation, go here).  This scheme at its most basic level is the offensive lineman blocks the most dangerous lineman near them while a “one-cut” running back hits the whole created and makes one-cut and runs.  Zone runnings was popularized by the Denver Broncos in the nineties where Alex Gibbs had great success with his zone blocking.   However, this strategy has not worked so far for McCarthy.  During 2007, McCarthy’s most successful season running this scheme, most runs would fall short of 3 yards with a few break away runs for big gains a game.  It has not been successful for 3-5 yards a carry to consistently move the chains on the ground.

McCarthy has had 3.25 years to get his zone running scheme working with little to no success.   There is a high cost of being a one dimensional offensive team.   The failure of the zone running has killed the Packers play action passing game, allowed opponent DBs to have lots of safety help and has not kept defensive lines or blitzers honest.   Something needs to change or the Packers will be doomed to mediocrity or worse.