Supposed Strength Goes Bust, And So Could Packers’ Super Bowl Chances

Let’s rewind back to late August.

The Green Bay Packers made a bold move, pushing all their poker chips to the center of the table to acquire an impact defensive player.

You know him by now. His name is Micah Parsons.

His reputation preceded him, and he’s delivered on just about every promise that could have been made.

Parsons was pretty straight-forward when he was acquired about his style of play.

“All I know is go,” Parsons said.

The juice surrounding Parsons has been full-go since the heroes’ welcome he received at Lambeau Field before a 27-13 win over the Detroit Lions on Sept. 7.

The trade was supposed to be the final piece in building a dominant pass rush. That’s something Brian Gutekunst talked a lot about during the offseason but didn’t address in significant fashion in free agency or the draft.

The hope was Parsons would make the players around him better. Rashan Gary, Lukas Van Ness and Devonte Wyatt, all former first-round picks, delivered disappointing pass-rushing production for one reason in 2024.

Without a consistent rush, Green Bay’s defense was good but not good enough in the biggest games. It could not control games in the manner that some of the league’s best defenses did.

After seeing his pass rush fizzle out in the postseason against the Philadelphia Eagles, Gutekunst had to have known when he walked out of Lincoln Financial Field that night that simply relying on organic growth was too risky.

Almost a month later, the Eagles wrecked a Super Bowl against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. The great equalizer against great quarterbacks is pressure.

Perhaps Buddy Ryan said it best, with a line that Matt LaFleur has echoed often.

“A quarterback has never completed a pass when he was flat on his back,” Ryan said.

In season-opening wins against the Lions and Commanders, the Packers had eight sacks. Gary had 2.5, Wyatt had 2.0 and Parsons had 1.5. Wyatt suffered a knee injury in Week 3, and the Packers had only four sacks in a three-game stretch.

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) is sacked by Green Bay Packers defensive end Rashan Gary. | Barry Reeger-Imagn Images

However, with six sacks at Arizona in Week 7 and three sacks at Pittsburgh in Week 8, the group that Gutekunst built was working well. Gary had 7.5 sacks and Parsons had 6.5, with both ranking in the top 10 after the victory against the Steelers.

With a three-game winning streak, the Packers played the Carolina Panthers at Lambeau Field on Nov. 2. The Panthers’ plan was clear: Do not let Parsons wreck the game. To their credit, he didn’t.

Parsons finished without a sack or quarterback hit. He had just three tackles on a relatively quiet day for the rest of the defense as Carolina upset the Packers 16-13.

The following week against the Eagles was similar. Parsons had seven pressures, according to PFF, but no sacks. The rest of his teammates weren’t able to get near Jalen Hurts, and he was not sacked in a 10-7 loss.

That could have been brushed off as simply facing one of the top sets of offensive tackles in football. Philadelphia’s offensive line, when healthy, is one of the best in football with left tackle Jordan Mailata and right tackle Lane Johnson.

Sunday’s game against the New York Giants, however, presented more of the same problems. The Packers’ defense was on the field for 69 plays against a Giants offense that had been hammered by injuries to key players and was starting a third-string quarterback in Jameis Winston.

Green Bay Packers defensive end Micah Parsons clinched the victory over the Giants with this sack and strip. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

This had all the makings of a big game for Green Bay’s defense. From a points perspective, sure, it only allowed 20. It also allowed the Giants to move the ball down the field almost at will. The discussion about being beaten for a lot of yards but limiting points sounds a lot like the talking points Jeff Hafley’s predecessor used to push.

That might work against teams like the Giants and Panthers. Once they start facing better offenses, which they will in the coming weeks, it’s less likely that Green Bay is going to be able to rely on the opposing offense tripping over themselves.

Discarding their desperation final drive, all three of the Giants’ possessions in the second half found their way into Green Bay territory. The Giants held the ball for 16 plays, 15 plays, then 10 plays.

The 15-play drive resulted in a touchdown, which gave the Giants a 20-19 lead in the fourth quarter. The other two possessions ended when the defense finally made a splash play.

The Giants’ final threat was stopped with Evan Williams’ end-zone interception. It was the final of five passes from Winston that hit a defensive back right in his hands. The other four were dropped.

The Giants’ first series of the second half was the 16-play drive that took 9:46 off the clock. The drive ended when the Packers sacked Winston on fourth down. Who sacked Winston? Parsons, of course. He shared the sack with linebacker Isaiah McDuffie, but McDuffie was mostly cleaning up the heavy lifting that Parsons had done to that point.

The final play of the game was a strip-sack from Parsons that allowed the Packers to escape with a 27-20 victory.

What that second half highlights is a bigger problem with Green Bay’s defense, and specifically the pass rush. Parsons was supposed to be the skeleton key that unlocked everyone else, turning this group from a good unit into a truly dominant one.

Since the calendar turned from October, however, the pass rush has mostly been a one-man band.

If Parsons is not getting to the quarterback, nobody else is.

The Packers aren't getting anything in the pass-rushing department from DEs outside of Micah Parsons.

No one has played more and had fewer quick pressures than Rashan Gary this year.

Data from NFL Pro pic.twitter.com/XPkww7KCnu
— Justis Mosqueda (@JuMosq) November 17, 2025

The past two weeks, according to Pro Football Focus, Parsons had 13 pressures. Everybody else has 12. Against the Giants, Parsons had six, Gary had two and Kingsley Enagbare, who played more snaps than Gary, had zero.

Wyatt’s career has a troubling trend of cooling off after an injury derailed a hot start. Wyatt in the first two games had two sacks and 11 pressures. In four games since returning to the lineup, he has zero sacks, one tackle for loss and five pressures. He had zero pressures against the Giants.

Perhaps they’ll get a boost with the eventual return of Van Ness, but he has not proven to be a consistent contributor in his young career.

If a Super Bowl-or-bust season is not going to end in a bust, their pass rush needs to figure out a way to not be Parsons or bust.

SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY PACKERS NEWSLETTER

More Green Bay Packers News