
It’s been a long time since the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers met in December in a game that had significant impact on the NFC North. At 9-3, the Bears enter this game leading the division and are the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
Meanwhile, Green Bay is 8-3-1 and a win would move them ahead in the division. It’s also the first meeting of two in a three-week span, so these two teams will get real familiar with each other. That includes star pass rusher Micah Parsons who will play in his first Bears-Packers game this weekend.
Parsons has been fantastic for the Packers this season, recording 12.5 sacks and a forced fumble. He’s done his best work in the fourth quarter for Green Bay. While he will get his first taste of this rivalry, Parsons already feels disrespected.
Parsons is having another fantastic season. He has played up to his star pass rush standards, making the trade to Green Bay worth it. But on Thursday, Parsons spoke to the media about playing Chicago and apparently he has a bone to pick with the Bears?
“Rivarlies are for the people. It’s for the fans,” Micah Parsons said, per Ryan Wood of USA Today. For me, it’s just going out there and just dominating. I just don’t like them because I just see like the disrespect… I play for respect. You know how to earn someone’s respect is beating the s**t out of them.”
I just have a question. Where is the disrespect that Parsons is coming from? Is he talking about Ben Johnson calling out Matt LaFleur when he introduced him back in January? Parsons was still a member of the Cowboys.
The Bears haven’t said anything recently either. And if any team is being disrespected, it certainly feels like people are disrespecting the Bears.
Here is Parsons response to the disrespect.
“Respect is something that’s earned, and these people want to come here, and they want to beat us at our house,” Parsons said. “We eventually got to go there. If someone comes s**t on your lawn, what would you say? It’s a respect thing, especially losing a couple of games at home, and the way we lost them. We have to come together as a defense to get our respect back.”
Maybe this is a Michael Jordan-like tactic to work up some motivation for Parsons to have a big game. The task is now on Chicago to slow down Parsons and make a statement of their own.
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