The Carolina Panthers are above .500 for the second time this season at the expense of the Green Bay Packers. That doesn't make the loss on Sunday any more comforting for Packers fans, though.
The Packers were still 13.5-point favorites, and while that's a tough cover for any team in the NFL, Green Bay's three-point loss still rings as one of the more bizarre outcomes of the 2025 season, right up there with the Packers' loss to the Cleveland Browns in a much-too-similar fashion.
However, the loss to Carolina carried a much stranger caveat than the loss to Cleveland. Against the Panthers, Micah Parsons played arguably the worst game of his career, at least, judging by the box score.
Micah Parsons recorded zero pressures for the first time in his career against the Carolina Panthers
According to Next Gen Stats, for the first time in Parsons' career, he finished a game without a single pressure. Parsons rushed the passer 21 times against Carolina, but did not have the impact that Packers fans have grown accustomed to.
Next Gen Stats also pointed out that Parsons faced the second-highest percentage of double teams on his rush attempts he's seen so far this season at 28.6 percent. Still, that's only six of his 21 rushes.
Strangely enough, Panthers quarterback Bryce Young had a less-than-adequate stat line for a winning quarterback. He went 11-of-20 for 102 yards and a pick. He was sacked once and hit twice and yet still struggled without Parsons and the rest of the Packers' pass rush affecting him as much as NFL fans, not just Packers fans, would expect.
This season, Young is on pace to be hit more times than in his first two seasons despite facing less pressure. He's only been pressured on 20.4 percent of his dropbacks this season, and he's on pace to cut his sack total from last season, 48, in half. Clearly, Carolina has made some drastic improvements to its pass protection this year.
Still, that slight improvement doesn't exactly paint a picture of why Parsons would turn in the worst pass-rushing performance of his career. He had three tackles, including one for a loss, so it wasn't a horrendous outing by any stretch, but it is one that has Packers fans scratching their heads, especially after Parsons and his friends in the trenches terrorized Aaron Rodgers last week.
Parsons explained after the game that Carolina didn't make it easy for the pass rush because they didn't drop straight back very often. They kept Young on the move, and while it may not have helped their passing game be effective, it did help the offense avoid Parsons' usual destructive impact.
"I mean, it's difficult when I think we had two total dropbacks all game," Parsons said. "They threw 100 yards. If we lose a game like that in the NFL, we just didn't play good. Not too many quarterbacks are throwing for 100 yards and winning."
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Parsons isn't wrong, but at the same time, former top-10 pick Ikem Ekwonu put on his big boy pass-blocking pants for the game. Even in some one-on-one reps against Parsons, the young, promising blind-side protector played well.
Obviously, this shouldn't turn into a running concern for Green Bay. It's not often that an offense's plan to deal with Parsons works out. Other teams might try to replicate some of what Carolina did, but the Panthers didn't exactly offer a foolproof blueprint to the league either.
Next week, the Packers face Jalen Hurts, the fourth-most sacked quarterback in the NFL. Parsons and company should get back on track then, even against a tougher opponent.