After a 9-3-1 start fizzled into an early end to the season, the Green Bay Packers have been left to pick up the pieces this week. The uncertainty surrounding head coach Matt LaFleur is one of the pieces of the puzzle the Packers must assemble ahead of the 2026 season, but they also need to look at what went wrong over a five-game losing streak that sent their offseason Cancun plans into motion.
Many would point to Micah Parsons’s torn ACL as a reason why the Packers fell apart down the stretch. But when speaking to reporters during this week’s locker cleanout, Parsons suggested that the team's day-to-day effort is a big thing that’s holding them back.
“The change is the players. Us players are the one that’s playing the game,” Parsons said via ESPN Wisconsin’s Jason Wilde. “I challenged the guys to do more than what your job requires. If you’re in shape, run more. Do more. We’ve got to be out there. Like, we need to be playing. If we’ve got to play 80 snaps, we play 80 (EXPLETIVE) snaps. But we shouldn’t be tired doing that. Look how many plays we got outstrained. Like, there’s things that can’t happen. People can’t outwork (us). Like your effort matches what you’re trying to say in the locker room.”
There are several players whocould be the targets of Parsons’ message to the locker room. But if there’s one player in particular that should be sweating bullets, it’s Packers edge rusher Rashan Gary.
Micah Parsons’s Comments May Be the Final Nail in Rashan Gary’s Coffin
Gary’s 2025 season began on a high note when Parsons was acquired in an August trade with the Dallas Cowboys. With an All-Pro on the opposite side, fans believed that Gary would take off toward a career year, and that was the case when Gary collected 26 pressures and 7.5 sacks over the first seven games.
But instead of continuing that pace, Gary disappeared over the final nine games, failing to record a sack or a tackle for loss, and it may have been what Parsons was referring to in his next portion of his quote.
“I dare people to beat me to the ball, you know? And I do it because my life depends on the outcome of how this team plays,” Parsons continued. “Everything is a competition. Like, even though we’re teammates, we’re still competing to reach the same common goal... I want the same success for you as I want for me, whether you get your money here or you get your money somewhere else; we’re all tied together, but our one goal is to get to that championship... You can’t coach effort. And that’s the mentality that I want guys to embrace.”
Again, this could have been sent to anyone in the Packers’ locker room. But it’s hard not to follow the breadcrumbs to Gary’s locker. Sometimes players are snakebitten when it comes to sacks and tackles for loss, and Gary still had 27 pressures in his final seven games, including the Wild Card Round, according to Pro Football Focus.
Gary’s performance against the Bears may have put an exclamation point on Parsons’s comments. PFF credited Gary with six pressures in the loss. There were other moments where he appeared tired or aloof, such as an effort to chase down Chicago quarterback Caleb Williams that was cited by Andy Herman of the "Pack A Day Podcast."
It’s not the first time that this has happened. A play in the Packers’ loss to the Denver Broncos showed the difference between Gary and Parsons (h/t @Swervin32_), with Gary appearing to pull up while Parsons continued to pursue quarterback Bo Nix to force an incompletion.
Of course, it wasn't always like this. But Gary has turned into a player capable of getting near the quarterback, yet he takes his foot off the gas when he realizes he isn’t going to get credit for a sack. For a team captain, it’s unacceptable and something that may have motivated Parsons to make these comments.
With a $28 million cap hit for next season, it’s something the Packers will consider if they want to bring Gary back, or a key reason why he’s playing for someone else when the 2026 season begins.