The non-theatric theatrics were just a distraction. The real drama — and a telling tactic for the Green Bay Packers — came later Sunday.
Yes, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur unquestionably did a flyby handshake with the Chicago Bears’ Ben Johnson. No, it wasn’t nearly as dramatic as some of the instantaneous reactions portrayed it. If anything, the nanosecond of interaction between the two was more dust-bunny than dust-up. Maybe you craved a Jim Harbaugh vs. Jim Schwartz (circa 2011) postgame confrontation, only to be disappointed with LaFleur simply giving Johnson a chilly little ¡olé! before everyone swiftly moved on with their postgame.
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“Just a quick handshake,” LaFleur said following the Packers’ 28-21 win over the Bears. “We’ll see them again in two weeks.”
Any drama or pettiness between the Packers and Bears fell flat after a week of intensely re-racking comments Johnson made in his introductory news conference with the Bears last January, when he said he “enjoyed beating Matt LaFleur twice a year” as offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions. Instead, LaFleur was forward-looking and respectful of the Bears, reciting his fairly typical mission-first-and-always diatribes about methodically moving forward. In the same vein, Johnson was complimentary of the Packers and seemingly appreciative about being part of a rivalry between the two teams being reinvigorated as each vies for the NFC North crown.
“I do think there’s some aura that comes with playing here and competing here,” Johnson said of Lambeau Field. “I love it for our guys. This is what the football gods made football to be. Cold weather in December like this. Green Bay, Chicago — it’s outstanding. I think it’s awesome to have this rivalry alive and well right now and we’ll get another chance at it here in two weeks.”
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For the most part, that was the underlying Packers message: Green Bay held down its end of the bargain and it will see Chicago again in two weeks when the division could be decided at Soldier Field.
Oh — and stop committing the clearly egregious but also unflagged holding penalties on Micah Parsons.
That’s where the spice was Sunday. Less between LaFleur and Johnson than between the Packers’ coach and Sunday’s officiating crew. Not to mention the seemingly overwhelming majority of the Green Bay fan base, which flooded social media with clips of Parsons being held by Bears tight end Colston Loveland and offensive tackle Darnell Wright, among others.
A hold by Wright left Packers fans particularly seething after it was posted by the NFL’s X account as a Chicago highlight, showcasing a pivotal scramble and completion by Bears quarterback Caleb Williams during a late fourth-quarter drive. On the play, Parsons comes off the right edge and is met by Wright, who hooked his arm around Parsons’ neck and corralled him out of the way as Williams rolled out of trouble and completed a 24-yard pass to wideout Devin Duvernay deep into Green Bay territory. In the background of the play, you see Parsons on his knees and raising his arms to the sky, seemingly asking for a penalty or some kind of explanation for what it would take to get a flag.
Parsons would finish with eight quarterback pressures in the win, but zero sacks or tackles. Afterward, LaFleur took exception to the lack of flags when it came to the way the Bears were blocking Parsons. More than once during the game, the Packers head coach could be seen animatedly engaging officials and complaining about what appeared to be unflagged holding incidents. Asked about one of the incidents, LaFleur said he wasn’t sure what constituted holding after seeing how Parsons was handled by officials.
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“I guess I don’t know,” LaFleur said. “I thought there was one that certainly was questionable, to say the least. But apparently the officials disagree, so it is what it is. We just gotta continue to strain and fight and try to get to the quarterback.”
Is Micah Parsons getting a fair shake from the officiating? It appears the Packers don’t believe so. (Photo by Larry Radloff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Pressed on it further, he doubled down.
“Officials, I don’t think that their jobs are easy by any stretch,” LaFleur added. “I think it is a difficult job, but I guess I don’t know what holding is anymore. Because I thought [one] was pretty clear — clear and obvious hold. But I guess I don’t know what that means.”
LaFleur was careful to walk the line between an outright criticism of any officials. But engaging with the questions of reporters who are prepared to highlight what has been happening the past several weeks with Parsons is no accident. LaFleur knows what he’s doing. He’s running an early December gambit from a postgame podium that can also be paired at some point with the Packers submitting private officiating protests to the league office with accompanying video — not an uncommon practice for NFL teams — to send a message.
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Something along the lines of: Micah is being held repeatedly over the course of our games … the evidence is being broadcasted in front of everyone’s eyes … and it needs to be officiated better than this.
This is what you do when you have a $46.5 million-per-season edge rusher who is being prevented from completing one of the primary missions that wreck games. Namely, hitting the quarterback. Repeatedly. It’s also what you do when the race for the NFC North — and even more importantly, the conference’s No. 1 playoff seed — are still hanging in the balance. You look for an edge. Especially one that is provable on game film and rightfully should be called if officials are seeing it.
Of course, this isn’t new territory for Parsons. Dallas Cowboys fans complained about it for years, dating back to his rookie season in 2021. And it wasn’t just the fan base, either. In December of 2023, when Dallas was in a fistfight with the San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions for the No. 1 playoff seed in that season’s playoffs, the Cowboys reached out to the NFL’s league office to argue that Parsons was being blocked (and allegedly held) by opposing teams repeatedly, without the plays resulting in penalties.
Parsons lamented it publicly that season — and at other times — over the course of his career in Dallas. Now, it has traveled with him north to Green Bay, and the Packers are in the midst of the same frustration. That might be why Parsons seemed to be the most pragmatic person of all Sunday when questioned about any frustration over a lack of offensive holding penalties.
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“I just gotta keep fighting through,” Parsons told reporters. “That’s been the definition of my career. There’s always fighting through whatever. I’m a smaller guy and I think [officials] realize that and I’ve got an advantage on the defensive side — I play with great leverage and I’m able to get under people’s arms.”
“I think the rulebook is you got to be in the chest area and I’m just not getting grabbed in the chest area,” he added. “But like I said, there’s nothing I can do about it. I just got to keep fighting through.”
Asked by a reporter about being corralled by the neck, Parsons gave a verbal shrug.
“That’s not in the rulebook at all,” he said.
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LaFleur surely isn’t going to accept that. It’s unlikely general manager Brian Gutekunst will, either. That much seemed clear when the head coach gladly added fuel to a debate that is likely going to draw only more attention as the Packers move toward the playoffs — not to mention another meeting with the Bears in Week 16 that could decide the division.
That’s two weeks from now, and the Packers have opened the next chapter in the drama between the two rivals. And it has everything to do with how the Bears — and the rest of Green Bay’s opponents into the playoffs — will be scrutinized when it comes to how Parsons is officiated.
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