Bears HC Ben Johnson shares his true feelings on the Packers’ defense without star pass rusher Micah Parsons going into Week 16
When the Chicago Bears clash against the Green Bay Packers on Saturday for the second time in 13 days, things are going to look a lot different for both sides and the biggest difference is going to be for the Packers’ defense being without Micah Parsons. The team’s star pass rusher suffered a season-ending ACL […]
When the Chicago Bears clash against the Green Bay Packers on Saturday for the second time in 13 days, things are going to look a lot different for both sides and the biggest difference is going to be for the Packers’ defense being without Micah Parsons.
The team’s star pass rusher suffered a season-ending ACL injury last Sunday in the Packers’ loss to the Denver Broncos. After he went down, Denver scored 13 points and went on to win 34-26.
Parsons was a massive piece to the Packers defense when it came to generating pressure on the opposing quarterback but also brought a lot to the team’s defensive run game as well. And as big of a part as he was, things are going to look different for this defense moving forward.
Ben Johnson explains why the Packers can still be dangerous even without Micah Parsons
“We look at everything and that’s where being in the division last year certainly helps because you see all that tape from (Jeff) Hafley’s defense a year ago. There’s elements of that you take into account but at this point of the season, it’s a really good football team. Really good defense.”
Without Parsons, the Packers defense should in theory be similar to how the unit looked last season under Hafley, considering Parsons was the only major offseason addition to the unit. Against that defense in 2024, Johnson’s offense with the Lions scored 58 points with 652 total yards of offense.
As good of success as he had with the Lions, Johnson still recognizes the danger this defense can bring even without having their star player on the field the rest of the season.
“I know you kind of lock in one player because he does garner a lot of your attention when you go against that defense and yet they have some high caliber players throughout on the defensive line, linebacking core and on the back end,” Johnson added. “Just because one player goes down, doesn’t mean this is going to change a whole lot for them.”
One change our A to Z Sports Green Bay writer Wendell Ferreira discussed this week involved getting creative with the blitzes and simulating pressure to make up for the loss of Parsons noting the two players to watch will be linebackers Edgerrin Cooper and Quay Walker. Johnson shared a similar mindset previewing what to expect from this defense.
“The linebackers are thumpers,” Johnson said. “If you ask the backs to pick them up in protection one too many times, then they’re going to find a way to get to your quarterback. They do a great job of that. We got a tall task at hand and I know everyone wants to make it about the one particular player, but this is a very good defense.”
Bears potential plan could actually stay the same from what they did in Week 14
One option the Bears could lean back into on Saturday to combat the linebackers and still account for guys like Rashan Gary and Lukas Van Ness off the edge is the two-TE sets, especially the sets the Bears have been running the last two weeks with two tight ends actually in the backfield.
“The origin was going against Green Bay last time having those edge rushers,” Johnson explained. “We had both those guys in the backfield to deliberately look to chip those edges and slow down those (defensive ends). That was the starting point and we’ve only done it for a couple of weeks now. Each week is it’s own story, whether we use that again this week or we want to go a different direction.”
Needless to say, both the Bears and the Packers will have a plan in place without Parsons on the field. It just adds even more of a cat-and-mouse game to this divisional matchup in Week 16.
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