Defensive end Micah Parsons did not have the box score many expected in the Packers’ 28-21 win over the Bears, but he still left with plenty on his mind. The star pass rusher finished with just one tackle, two quarterback hits, and no sacks, yet he said afterward that Chicago’s linemen were hanging onto him all afternoon with little response from the officials.
Parsons told reporters, via The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman, that blockers kept grabbing him outside the chest area and that he feels “immune” to holding calls at this point, resigned to just “keep fighting” through it while Green Bay climbed to 9-3-1 and seized control of the NFC North.
For head coach Matt LaFleur, though, the emotional high of beating Chicago lasted about five seconds. Asked what the win meant with four weeks left and a road trip to Denver next, he initially downplayed it completely before catching himself.
“It means nothing right now,” LaFleur said, via ESPN, then pivoted. “I mean, it means a lot, but there are four weeks left, and you’ve got to take it day by day. You’ve got to really embrace that grind, embrace the challenge. It’s not going to be easy from here on out. We’ve got a great test in Denver coming up. Our guys really got to push and try to find any competitive advantage that we can get to go there, on the road, against a really quality opponent and find a way to get a win.”
Parsons, meanwhile, kept the edge on the field too. In a viral moment from the same game, he said he went right at Bears quarterback Caleb Williams about his scrambling reputation.
Parsons explained that he told Williams he might outrun other defenses, but “you’re not running around me,” and took pride afterward in the fact that the young QB never beat him to the edge once all afternoon.
With the 11-2 Broncos looming on the schedule and a razor-thin gap at the top of the NFC North, Green Bay is treating the Bears' victory less like a statement and more like a starting point.
