GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley offered a bold prediction regarding Micah Parsons’ eventual return from the torn anterior cruciate ligament that ended the superstar pass rusher’s season prematurely.
“If I were a betting man, I would bet that he comes back even better and probably breaks the sack record next year,” Hafley said Wednesday.
Hafley also is bullish about the Packers’ chances of continuing to play quality defense even without Parsons, who injured his left knee in the third quarter of the Packers’ 34-26 loss at Denver on Sunday.
The Packers (9-4-1) play their first full game without Parsons this season on Saturday when they visit the Chicago Bears (10-4) with the NFC North lead at stake.
“We’ve got really good players, we’ve played good defense and we’re going to continue to play good defense,” Hafley said. “Our guys understand that, and I think it’s important for everyone to understand that these guys have a lot of pride, and they’re going to get even closer because of this. And they’re going to play well.”
Statistics suggest Green Bay’s defense could struggle without Parsons, who had a team-high 12 ½ sacks.
Although the Packers have allowed the sixth-fewest yards per game (294.6) and eighth-fewest points per game (20.1) of any NFL team, their game at Denver exposed their vulnerability when they’re not applying a consistent pass rush. Denver’s Bo Nix wasn’t sacked as he threw for 302 yards and four touchdowns.
Parsons’ league-high 83 quarterback pressures according to NFL Next Gen Stats were nearly twice the total of any other Packer. Green Bay will need former first-round picks Rashan Gary and Lukas Van Ness to recapture the form they showed early in the season when they capitalized on all the attention offenses were giving to Parsons.
Gary ranks second on the team with 42 pressures, but all 7 ½ of his sacks this season came in Green Bay’s first seven games.
Van Ness had 1 ½ sacks in Green Bay’s first five games, then missed seven of the Packers’ next eight games with a foot injury. Van Ness returned to play 22 snaps and post two tackles against Denver.
Gary said the Packers plan to play the rest of the season in a way that would impress Parsons.
“The No. 1 thing is, he wants us to turn the page and continue to play ball and get wins,” Gary said.
Green Bay still has many of the key players from a defense that ranked fifth in yards allowed and sixth in points allowed last season. That gives the Packers confidence they can still contain offenses even without Parsons chasing quarterbacks.
The Packers did send three-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman Kenny Clark to Dallas in the trade that got them Parsons. They also lost Devonte Wyatt, whose four sacks rank third on the team, to a season-ending ankle injury.
Yet they still have confidence they can continue to thrive without Parsons.
“We’ve still got the pen in our hand,” Gary said. “We can still write our story.”
If the Packers can pick up the slack and make a deep postseason run after losing Parsons, they should feel even better about themselves next year, whenever they get him back. Hafley said he expects the 26-year-old to come back better than ever.
After Hafley talked about the possibility of Parsons breaking the single-season sack record next year, he was asked if he specifically meant the league record. Michael Strahan set that record with 22 ½ in 2001 and T.J. Watt tied that mark 20 years later, though Cleveland’s Myles Garrett currently has 21 ½ with three games left in his season.
Hafley didn’t back down from his faith in Parsons or the rest of his players.
“He’s the type of guy – give Micah adversity and watch what happens,” Hafley said. “Give our defense and give our team adversity, and watch what happens. We’ll find out.”
NOTES: WR Christian Watson practiced on a limited basis Wednesday and expressed confidence he’d be able to play Saturday. Watson left the Broncos game with injuries to his chest and shoulder. “Obviously I’ve got to make sure that they clear me in the medical room and everything and make sure everything’s good,” Watson said. “But I mean, yeah, my goal is just to have a couple good days leading up to the game and hopefully it feels a little bit better each and every day and we’re at the point in the season where you’ve got to fight through some stuff, so should be good.” … RB Josh Jacobs (knee), RT Zach Tom (back/knee), TE Josh Whyle (concussion) and S Evan Williams (knee) didn’t practice. WR Jayden Reed also didn’t practice, due to a personal matter. … Parsons was officially placed on injured reserve.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (18) throws a pass for a touchdown against Green Bay Packers defensive end Micah Parsons, right, during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)
Green Bay Packers' Micah Parsons tries to stop Denver Broncos' Bo Nix during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Four centrist Republicans broke with Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday and signed onto a Democratic-led petition that will force a House vote on extending for three years an enhanced pandemic-era subsidy that lowers health insurance costs for millions of Americans.
The stunning move came the same day that House Republican leaders pushed to passage a health care bill that does not address the soaring monthly premiums that millions of people will soon endure. Those premium hikes will occur because the tax credits for those who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act expire at year’s end.
The developments set the stage for a renewed intraparty clash over health care in January, something Republican leaders had been working hard to avoid.
The moderate Republicans were able to force the issue by signing a petition, led by Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, to vote on a bill that would extend the ACA subsides for three years.
Republican Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Robert Bresnahan and Ryan Mackenzie, all from Pennsylvania, and Mike Lawler of New York signed on Wednesday morning, pushing it to the magic number of 218. A vote on the subsidy bill could come as soon as January under House rules.
“Unfortunately, it is House leadership themselves that have forced this outcome.” Fitzpatrick said in a statement.
Johnson told reporters Wednesday that “I have not lost control of the House” and he noted that Republicans have a razor-thin majority that allows a small number of members to employ procedures that would not usually be successful in getting around leadership.
“These are not normal times,” said Johnson, R-La.
The revolt against GOP leadership came after days of talks centered on the health care subsidies.
Johnson had discussed allowing more politically vulnerable GOP lawmakers a chance to vote on bills that would temporarily extend the subsidies while also adding changes such as income caps for beneficiaries. But after days of discussions, the leadership sided with the more conservative wing of the party's conference, which has assailed the subsidies as propping up a failed ACA program, which is widely known as “Obamacare.”
House Republicans pushed ahead Wednesday on a 100-plus-page health care package without the subsidies. Instead, the measure focused on long-sought GOP proposals designed to expand insurance coverage options for small businesses and the self-employed. The bill passed on a mostly party-line vote of 216-211. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., joined with Democrats in voting against the measure.
Fitzpatrick and Lawler tried to add a temporary extension of the subsidies to the bill, but were denied.
“Our only request was a floor vote on this compromise, so that the American People’s voice could be heard on this issue. That request was rejected. Then, at the request of House leadership I, along with my colleagues, filed multiple amendments, and testified at length to those amendments,” Fitzpatrick said. “House leadership then decided to reject every single one of these amendments."
“As I’ve stated many times before, the only policy that is worse than a clean three-year extension without any reforms, is a policy of complete expiration without any bridge," Fitzpatrick said.
Lawler, in a social media post, similarly said that “the failure of leadership” to permit a vote had left him with “no choice” but to sign the petition.
“I don’t like them. It’s not the way it’s supposed to work,” Johnson said of the discharge petitions.
Jeffries, for several weeks, had called on Republicans to sign his discharge petition. He particularly challenged Republicans in competitive congressional districts to join the effort if they really wanted to prevent steep premium increases for their constituents.
“Our position from the very beginning was that we are standing on the right side of the American people who want to see the Affordable Care Act tax credits extended, and we’re appreciative that we now have the bipartisan coalition to get that done," Jeffries said.
The GOP holds a 220-213 majority in the House, which means defections from just a sliver of the conference can upend leadership's plans. Johnson has been able to negotiate that challenge largely by making accommodations to the more conservative wing of his conference. This time, it was the moderates who revolted.
The defectors largely represent districts that Democrats have targeted in their bid to retake the majority, with Democrats promising to make health insurance costs a central issue in next year's midterms.
Lawmakers turn to discharge petitions to show support for an action and potentially force a vote on the House floor, but they are rarely successful. This year has proven an exception. The vote requiring the Department of Justice to release the Jeffrey Epstein files occurred after Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Massie introduced a petition to force a vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The signature effort was backed by all House Democrats and four Republicans.
It was a long battle to get 218 signatures, but once the magic number was reached, lawmakers in both chambers voted overwhelmingly for the bill.
Even if the Democrats' subsidy bill were to pass the House in January, which is far from assured, it would face an arduous climb in the Republican-led Senate.
Republicans last week voted down a three-year extension of the subsidies and proposed an alternative that also failed. But in an encouraging sign for Democrats, four Republican senators crossed party lines to support their proposal.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., argued against the Democratic extension as “an attempt to disguise the real impact of Obamacare’s spiraling health care costs.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said he viewed the House developments Wednesday as a positive for generating a compromise that both parties could support.
“If we're not talking, we're not making progress. This continues the discussion,” Tillis said.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said that the 218th signature for the Democrats' bill showed that the demand from the American people for an extension is undeniable, but “the damage has now been done, no matter what happens.”
“Because at this point, Republicans have made it impossible to prevent many Americans from paying more on their monthly premiums on January 1st. And Republicans can’t even say they tried to stop it,” Schumer said.
Associated Press staff writer Joey Cappelletti contributed to this report.
This story has been corrected to reflect that the next government funding deadline comes at the end of January, not the end of December.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., speaks to reporters following a strategy session with House Republicans, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters following the weekly policy luncheons at the Capitol, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., meets with reporters as Republicans struggle with a plan to address growing health care costs, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
FILE - Pages from the U.S. Affordable Care Act health insurance website healthcare.gov are seen on a computer screen in New York, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison, File)
