Green Bay Packers defensive end Micah Parsons, center, avoids a block from Lions tight end Zach Horton during the first half in Detroit on Thursday. (AP photo)

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Micah Parsons has pressured quarterbacks at a rate to rival any player in the NFL throughout his first season with the Green Bay Packers.

Now his sack totals are starting to reflect that.

Parsons enters Green Bay’s Sunday showdown against the NFC North-leading Chicago Bears (9-3) with six sacks during the Packers’ three-game win streak, bringing his season total to 12 ½.

He’s the first player with at least 12 sacks in each of his first five seasons since at least 1982, when the NFL made sacks an official stat. Parsons remains focused on reaching his next milestone.

“How I can get to six?” Parsons said. “That’s the mindset. Once you do six, how do you get to seven? How do we keep improving? How do I continue to get better? Understanding how teams are going to come out and attack me and how do I say, ‘It don’t matter.’ “

That approach has Parsons doing everything the Packers (8-3-1) could have imagined when they landed him from Dallas for two first-round picks and three-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman Kenny Clark. The Packers gave Parsons a four-year, $188 million contract with $136 million guaranteed, making him the highest-paid non-quarterback in league history.

Parsons has responded by bothering quarterbacks no matter how opponents try to contain him. He leads the league with 70 quarterback pressures, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.

“He’s a special, special football player,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “I haven’t seen too many guys like him.”

While Parsons has been bothering quarterbacks consistently all season, it wasn’t necessarily apparent from his sack totals early on.

Parsons had 2 ½ sacks through his first five games. He had a career-high three sacks in a 27-23 victory at Arizona on Oct. 19, then had just one over Green Bay’s next three games.

Sacks have come in bunches lately. He had 1 ½ against the New York Giants, two against Minnesota and 2 ½ at Detroit.

Parsons ranks third in the league in sacks, behind Cleveland’s Myles Garrett (19) and the New York Giants’ Brian Burns (13). He already has the highest single-season sack total for any Packer since Za’Darius Smith also had 12 ½ in 2020. Tim Harris has the Packers’ single-season record with 19 ½ sacks in 1989.

Measuring himself against the greatest players drives Parsons, who hates losing.

“I used to wrestle and I used to always break down crying when I lost these wrestling matches,” Parsons said. “My dad’s like, ‘It’s OK. You’re going to get another match.’ And I was like, ‘No, it’s not, Dad! You don’t understand.’ We work so hard. We have goals and dreams. If I’m going into this wrestling tournament, I want to be No. 1. I don’t want to be third place on the podium. I want to smile and look down at the rest.”

Parsons maintains that competitiveness even when he’s off the field. Parsons says the only time he’s a prima donna is when it comes to board games.

“I’ve got certain family members that don’t even want to play unless they’re on my team because they either might get kicked out or excluded from the rest of the activities for the week if they go against me,” Parsons said.

Parsons’ favorite board games include Scattergories, Codenames, Connect 4 and Taboo.

“I probably haven’t lost in Connect 4 in like five years,” Parsons said.

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