Bear Digest

Micah Parsons labels Bears disrespectful despite all the compliments

Analysis: After a week when the Bears dumped compliments on the Packers' edge rusher, he still has managed to see massive amounts of disrespect coming from Chicago.
Gene Chamberlain|
Green Bay Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons celebrates a sack of Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
Green Bay Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons celebrates a sack of Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy. | Tork Mason / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Somehow Packers pass rusher Micah Parsons is feeling disrespected even after Bears coaches and various players have heaped praise on him this week.

Bears offensive coordinator Declan Doyle was called upon Thursday to worship at the Parsons altar and did his duty.

“He's certainly a challenge," Doyle said. "There's a number of guys that you play in the league that you have to be aware of on every snap. He's one of those guys, very talented player.

"He is slippery, he is a great pass rusher. They'll move him around. They do a great  job in the defensive scheme of putting him in different positions. It's simple to them, and yet it can create complex looks for us. The biggest thing is that you don't overlook anything. You don't ever overlook where he is on the field. You’ve got to be aware of him at all times. That's really the way the plan gets put together.”

Parsons has 12 1/2 sacks. He's not quite at the sack level of next week's challenge, Myles Garrett and 19 1/2 sacks, but still among the best two or three pass rushers in the league this year.

Bears quarterback Caleb Williams never mentioned Parsons' name individually when commenting on the Packers defense, but was asked about the safeties.

“Not only best safeties, but they’ve got a hell of a D-line obviously that all of y'all know about," Williams said. "The D-line, the backers, number seven, especially, their corners of 25 and 24, they've been playing very well.

"The safeties, like coach said, are extremely talented. And so, it's a great challenge for us. We have to be focused on the details and from there, we have to go out there and execute the plays that are called and have a certain mentality about us when we step on that field.”

Perhaps Williams should have said Parsons by name.

Now he's mad at something. It's possible it was Ben Johnson's pointed joking about Matt LaFleur when he was hired, but Parsons was on Dallas when that happened. If that's what he doesn't like, maybe the Bears should get mad about Charles Martin and his towel with players' numbers on it. That was a long time ago, too.

"I just don’t like them because I just see like the disrespect,” Parsons told Green Bay reporters about the Bears, although it's difficult to see where's looking. Maybe he was looking at the Lions or Vikings by mistake. “I play for respect. You know how to earn someone’s respect is beating the (excrement) out of them.”

He continued this rambling rant.

“You gotta go out there and take it," he said. "Respect is something that’s earned, and these people wanna come here and beat us in our house.

"Someone comes and (deuces) on your lawn, what are you gonna say? So it’s a respect thing, especially losing a couple games at home and the way we lost them.”

The only manure in Bears-Packers lore was the manure put into Mike Ditka's locker at Lambeau Field in 1985 before the Bears won 16-10. So not sure here where the Bears were disrespecting. No one has suggested any of them are not potty trained.

Johnson is counting on his offensive line to handle the Packers' pass rush. They've been pretty good at it so far, and are graded fourth by Pro Football Focus among all lines.

Perhaps it was Johnson only including Parsons in with other great pass rushers the Bears have faced instead saying Parsons is another level entirely.

"Yeah, we faced a number of good ones," Johnson said. "I think the last one that you really earmarked to a degree was Maxx Crosby and he still was able to affect the game quite a bit there when we played Vegas early in the season. Hutch (Aidan Hutchinson) was another one, just like that, up in Detroit. And so we faced a number of them.

"We’ve got, obviously, both Micah (Parsons) and Rashan Gary here this week. And going forward, it seems like we're going to have somebody every week. So, yeah, I think our guys do have some confidence. I do think they're playing well up front in both the run game and the pass game. I'm talking about our offensive line. They're doing a really nice job right now. But like I said, each week's its own story, and we’ve got to go out there and create our own narrative here this week."

Parsons will likely be blocked much of the time by rookie Ozzy Trapilo, although sometimes he'll come off Darnell Wright's side or blitz up the middle.

Parsons is only graded 39th against the run by PFF among edges, and Jerry Jones had complained about Parsons' run-stopping ability when trading him. But the Packers didn't acquire Parsons to be Dayo Odeyingbo and top the run. He's there for sacks and is delivering.

Apparently, he's just not doing it to a level so that he has earned sufficient respect from some Bears phantom.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.