Packers' Super Bowl Hopes Doomed After Micah Parsons's Injury

With Parsons likely done for the rest of the season, Green Bay doesn't have the firepower to make a postseason run. Plus, the Rams look to be the best team in a loaded NFC.

Parsons suffered a non-contact knee injury in the Packers' loss to the Broncos on Sunday. / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Let’s take a moment to give Broncos quarterback Bo Nix more respect than he’s had the past two years, because he was sensational in Denver’s 34–26 victory over the Packers on Sunday. 

Many snickered when Broncos coach Sean Payton said during the summer that his second-year quarterback has superstar potential. It was also insulting that Denver had to take on the underdog role at home despite having a better record than the Packers. 

Nix jokingly called his team the “overdogs,” but now you can call them true Super Bowl contenders with a budding star at quarterback. And don’t try to take credit from Nix (23-of-34, 302 yards, 4 TDs) because he carved up Green Bay’s stout defense long before Micah Parsons sustained his devastating knee injury. 

The roles drastically changed for the Broncos (12–2) and the Packers (9–4–1) because there’s a real chance the loser could miss the postseason with a short-handed team moving forward. 

We also learned that Colts quarterback Philip Rivers still has plenty to offer despite the lack of arm strength he showed in Indy’s 18–16 loss to the Seahawks. What the 44-year-old Rivers did before the snap should send a message to the coaches tasked with developing quarterbacks at the lower levels. More QB prospects need to stay in college longer to hit the ground running in the NFL, like Nix did before the Broncos took him in the first round in 2024. 

Here’s what else we learned in NFL Week 15.

Packers now longshots to win Super Bowl after Parsons’s injury

The Packers went from contending for the No. 1 seed in the NFC to now being long shots to win the Super Bowl after Parsons sustained a significant knee injury in the loss to the Broncos. 

Just when Jordan Love finally had a healthy receiving corps, the Packers’ defense will now likely regress without Parsons. His presence alone fixed all of Green Bay’s defensive issues over the past few seasons, including the lack of a consistent pass rush. It will be on Rashan Gary and backups Lukas Van Ness, a former first-round pick, and Kingsley Enagbare to step up and fill the void for the player Green Bay traded two first-round picks to acquire from Dallas. It will also be on defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, a head-coaching candidate, to find creative ways to simulate pressure with his linebackers and defensive backs. 

But there will be no deep playoff run if Love and his offense play as poorly as they did in the second half in Denver. For Green Bay’s final six drives, Love produced two interceptions, two turnovers on downs, a punt and a field goal. To make matters worse, the Packers also lost wide receiver Christian Watson to a chest injury. Watson’s ability to stretch the field makes all the difference for this offense that has played weeks without tight end Tucker Kraft, who sustained a season-ending knee injury. 

Speaking of players needing to step up, wide receivers Matthew Golden (the 2025 first-round pick), Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks will need to show signs of consistency, finally. It seems Love’s pass catchers like playing hot potato with the No. 1 role. 

With devastating injuries mounting, this team will have a quick playoff appearance if more players don’t step up—that’s if they even get that far after falling to the No. 7 seed due to the nightmare loss in Denver.  

Rivers’s return sheds light on lack of development for young QBs

There was plenty of criticism of the Colts (8–6) for handing the keys to their offense to 44-year-old Philip Rivers, who retired nearly five years ago. 

But Rivers played in Indianapolis in 2020 and had a decade of experience working with coach Shane Steichen, who was still talking with Rivers daily before expressing interest in bringing him back after Daniel Jones’s season-ending injury. 

You know who should really be upset about Indy trusting Rivers in the middle of chasing a playoff spot? Young quarterbacks and the coaches who have failed to properly develop them in recent years. Rivers immediately picking up Steichen’s offense and having a sharp mind against the Seahawks’ complex defense shed light on the lack of development quarterbacks have received before entering the NFL. 

Rivers put Indianapolis in a position to win at Seattle before Jason Myers's game-winning field goal in the final seconds gave the Seahawks an 18–16 win. / Kevin Ng-Imagn Images

Many rookie signal-callers come into the league playing catch-up when it comes to reading defenses before and after the snap. Most of them spend most of their football lives playing in seven-on-seven formats, which often overlook the mental aspects of the game and prioritize pushing the football with little resistance. Once they get to the college level, many work off one read, often out of the shotgun, and rely heavily on their mobility to move the chains. It’s not a coincidence that the quarterbacks who have stayed an extra year or two in college are the ones having quicker success in the NFL. 

At his age, Rivers wouldn’t have lasted a full NFL season, but he gave the Colts a chance in a hostile environment against arguably the best defense in the NFL because of what he offers with his mind. Rivers (18-of-27, 120 yards, TD, INT) didn’t need much arm strength to nearly beat the Seahawks on Sunday. Hopefully, more young quarterbacks will put more effort into the mental aspect of football.  

Let’s stop complaining about Indy’s savvy decision and direct that anger at what’s going on at the lower levels when it comes to the quarterback position. 

Rams prove they can overcome secondary concerns with deep offense

I think it’s safe to say that the Rams (11–3) have the best offense in the NFL. Matthew Stafford & Co. outpaced the Lions in a game with 75 points—L.A. prevailed, 41–34.

Maybe Buffalo fans should be upset with my statement about the Rams’ offense, but Josh Allen doesn’t have the same firepower as Stafford, who guided a unit that produced 519 total yards against Detroit. There is concern, however, about Davante Adams’s hamstring injury, which he aggravated on Sunday. Los Angeles should seriously consider sitting him until the postseason, as it has enough depth to move forward without him and possibly clinch the NFC West and the No. 1 seed in the final three weeks of the regular season.

On Sunday, Stafford (24-of-38, 368 yards, 2 TDs, INT) tossed two touchdowns to Colby Parkinson, one of three tight ends getting meaningful snaps in this offense. There’s also star receiver Puka Nacua, who had nine catches for 181 yards. And the Rams have developed a two-headed monster in the backfield, with Blake Corum and Kyren Williams. 

The Rams might be the most complete team in the NFL, but they do have a suspect secondary, which was torched at times against Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams. But this Rams offense can overcome a few sluggish outings from the secondary. The Rams appear to be the best team in football heading into their second showdown with the Seahawks on Sunday.

Patriots can’t hang in shootout vs. experienced, explosive Bills

If the Patriots had held onto their 21–0 lead, it would have been a fitting way to end the Bills’ stranglehold on the AFC East. It could have been a sign that New England is more explosive than Buffalo, perhaps the lone elite strength of Allen’s squad, one it has leaned on to capture five consecutive division titles. 

But the Bills got up off the mat and sprinted past Drake Maye and the Patriots. Buffalo embraced the 35–31 shootout in New England and stayed alive in the AFC East. Scoring in bunches is what Allen does best, as his high-scoring unit scored five consecutive touchdowns in as many possessions.  

There should be no criticism toward New England (11–3) for jumping to a three-touchdown lead, but in a strange way, that came back to hurt this inexperienced team because Mike Vrabel’s defense had no answers for slowing an Allen offense that was all gas minutes before halftime. The fast-play style that occurred in the second meeting between these two rivals certainly favored the Bills (10–4), who have thrived this season playing from behind, rallying against the Bengals last week, and most notably, the Week 1 comeback vs. the Ravens.

In the first meeting, the pace better suited the Patriots, who had a gutsy, physical performance in a 23–20 victory that saw several clutch plays down the wire. Perhaps one day Maye’s offense will be just as explosive as Allen’s. Still, the Patriots currently don’t have enough firepower at the skill positions, unless rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson can produce multiple 50-plus rushing touchdowns every week like he did Sunday vs. the Bills. With time, the second-year Maye will have better pass-catching options and all the benefits that come from experience and chemistry. 

Allen and his unit didn’t become a juggernaut in merely two seasons. They’ve been clicking for quite some time, and that’s why they refuse to go away in this AFC East race.

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