It’s Time to Break the Streak

. Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports photograph

Statistical streaks are created and broken every week in the NFL.

But there has been one haunting the Green Bay Packers for some time now.

44 Games.

That’s right. It has been 44 regular season games since we’ve seen a Packers running back rush for over 100 yards.

It’s the longest active NFL streak in this category, by far.

Do you remember the last time we’ve seen a Packers back surpass the century mark in a game?

Ironically, it was the last time Green Bay played the Washington Redskins back in 10/10/10 (weird), where the Packers lost in overtime to a Graham Gano 33-yard field goal.

. Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports photograph

Brandon Jackson ran for 115 yards on 10 carries in that game. He was the only Packer that year to rush for over 100 yards in a game, and has been the only Packer since then to accomplish this feat.

44 games is a ridiculously long time to go without a 100-yard rushing performance. The Packers have come close a few times in the past three years.

Late in 2010, Jackson fell one yard shy when he rushed for 99 yards against the New England Patriots. Ryan Grant recorded a 92-yard performance against the Carolina Panthers back in 2011. And Cedric Benson gained 84 yards on the ground against the New Orleans Saints last year.

Benson’s moderate 84-yard performance was the most rushing yards in a game by any Packer last season. In fact, the Packers have only had a back go over the 80-yard mark five times in the past three seasons.

This picture gets even gloomier when you look at some of the production from the other top running backs around the NFC.

Adrian Peterson has recorded 15 100-yard games since 10/10/10. Seattle’s Marshawn Lynch has 16. Frank Gore has 11, and Matt Forte has 10.

Granted, these are some of the top backs in the league, but you’d think Green Bay could at least muster a small percentage of this production.

So will 2013 finally be the year the Packers have a back that goes over the century mark in a game?

Eddie Lacy. Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports photograph

Maybe there has never been a more fitting time to break the 44-game streak than this week against the Washington Redskins.Wouldn’t it be sweet poetic justice if history came full circle and the Packers had a back go over the century mark against the team that last hosted a Packers’ 100-yard rusher?

This could very well happen.

Washington’s run defense didn’t look very good on Monday night. They gave up a whopping 184 yards to LeSean McCoy on the ground, and they had no answer for the Eagles’ ability to both run and pass out of the spread formation.

Granted, Eddie Lacy and the Packers offensive line struggled to get the ground game going early on against San Francisco last week. But the Packers last scoring drive in that game should give us some hope that they can be productive in the running game against Washington.

While running the no huddle, Lacy picked up 26 of the Packers 76 yards on the ground during that final scoring drive. He had four runs over five yards, and showed he can run effectively out of the shotgun and spread formations. Plus, he capped off the drive with a nice goal line run where he leaped over the defensive and offensive line for the touchdown.

So could this be Lacy’s week? Will we finally see this awful streak come to an end?

I guess we’ll find out on Sunday.