Packers' Keisean Nixon Changed His Tune on Bears After Wild Card Loss

Green Bay Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon is singing a different tune when it comes to the Chicago Bears these days. In the lead up to the Bears-Packers Wild Card matchup, Nixon didn't even try to hide his disdain for the Bears. "I didn't want nobody else. I wanted the Bears," he said to the media. "I'd rather play the Bears first. I need a get back."

Turns out the Bears gave him and the Packers more than they could handle as they pulled off a triumphant Wild Card victory, capped by a historic fourth-quarter comeback. That marked the Bears' second straight win over the Packers, both coming within a month of each other. Now, Nixon doesn't seem too interested in any 'get back' from the Bears. On Wednesday, he spoke to reporters after an OTA practice, as seen in a video posted to X by the official SleeperPackers account, and he said, "They hate us more than we hate them. We’ve been worried about other teams... Our process is not the Chicago Bears. That's not our Super Bowl. Our process is to win the NFC North first."

Not to be a stickler, but if the Packers' process is winning the division first, they haven't done a very good job of that since Aaron Rodgers left. In fact, with the Bears clinching the 2025 NFC North championship, the Packers now own the longest division title drought in the NFC North. The Vikings won it in 2022, followed by the Lions in 2023 and 2024, and then the Bears.

Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson have upended the established pecking order

For the better part of 30 years, the Packers dominated the Bears in their rivalry, thanks in large part to getting back-to-back Hall of Fame quarterbacks in Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers. In 1992, the Bears held a 24-game lead in the all-time series, but that quickly evaporated, and the Packers entered the 2025 season with a 12-game lead. The dominance became so one-sided that it was difficult to even call it a rivalry.

But Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson have upended the order of things in this rivalry after just one season together. From the controversial Ben Johnson-Matt LaFleur handshake saga to Caleb Williams' iconic 4th-and-8 pass that landed him on the cover of Madden 27, the Bears appear to be back in the driver's seat.

Nixon isn't even the first Packers player to start the trash talking early ahead of the 2026 NFL season. Javon Bullard poked the bear, if you'll pardon the pun, back in March. "They got two little wins last year. But don't forget who the big brother is," Bullard told sports blogger Ty Dunne. "We're still big brother. They got a long way to go before they can try to [talk trash to] us."

This is a great development for the game of football. The NFL is just better when the Bears and Packers are both good. For too long, these biannual matchups of rivals could be penciled in as free wins for Green Bay. Now, each Bears-Packers game is considered appointment viewing, which is why they'll be playing on Christmas day this year for just the third time ever.

Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson looks on during warmups at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images | David Banks-Imagn Images

The Bottom Line

These are the kinds of statements you never heard from Packers players in the past. The fact that they're feeding into the rivalry with some timely trash talk means that Chicago's ascendancy as a playoff contender has gotten under their skin. The Bears are a true threat now, and the players are reacting accordingly.

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