Packers Beat Bears, Lead NFC North, on Keisean Nixon’s Interception

GREEN BAY, Wis. – During his introductory news conference, new Chicago Bears coach Ben Johnson took an unprompted swipe at Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur.

After praising his former boss, Lions coach Dan Campbell, as well as Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell, Johnson said: “And, to be quite frank with you, I kind of enjoyed beating Matt LaFleur twice a year.”

On Sunday, LaFleur and the Packers enjoyed swiping first place in the NFC North out of the hands of Johnson’s upstart Bears.

The Packers beat the Bears 28-21, a win secured on Keisean Nixon’s game-clinching interception in the end zone. After the game, the coaches barely acknowledged each other.

“Just a quick handshake,” LaFleur said. “We’ll see them again in two weeks.”

Quarterback Jordan Love called it “huge” but, with four games to go in the regular season, it’s all about finishing it.”

“It’s a very big win,” Love said. “Obviously, just where we’re at in the NFC North and the division that we have, I think we’ve got some really good teams in this division and, obviously, the Bears were on top. We knew what it was coming into it and it’s a huge win. Obviously, we’ll be seeing these guys here again in a couple weeks.”

Whether the Packers can finish the season remains to be seen, but they finished the game.

They took a 28-21 lead on Josh Jacobs’ 2-yard touchdown run with 3:32 remaining. Enter Sandman blared through the stadium.

Micah Parsons got a couple pressures but Caleb Williams hit Luther Burden for 27 to Green Bay’s 47 and Devin Duvernay for 24 to the 23 at the 2-minute warning. With Jump Around being played, the person in charge of showing replays showed Parsons being held several times by right tackle Darnell Wright on the play to Duvernay.

Two runs by Kyle Monagai made it third-and-1 at the 14. The Bears were content to let the clock run. And so were the Packers. It was a game of chicken. The play was a handoff to Monangai, who was clobbered by Kingsley Enagbare. The Bears called timeout with 27 seconds to go and facing a fourth-and-1.

The Bears’ running game seemingly couldn’t be stopped but they went play-action. Williams went deep to tight end Cole Kmet, who had run past cornerback Keisean Nixon. Nixon, however, made a leaping interception in the end zone with 22 seconds to go.

KEISEAN CALLED GAME#ProBowlVote + Keisean Nixon

📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/NO7h37ZCzt
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) December 8, 2025

Love took a knee, and the Packers exited Lambeau Field in first place in the NFC North.

“Well, that was a heck of a football game,” LaFleur said. “Got to give the Bears a ton of credit. We knew it was going to be a tough challenge and it was exactly that. It took a full 60 minutes and we’re fortunate that we made a play when we needed to at the end of the game. It was a back-and-forth battle, particularly in that second half.”

The Packers will play at Chicago in two weeks but LaFleur’s only focus is facing the Broncos, who improved to 11-2, on Sunday.

Love was 17-of-25 passing for 234 yards and three touchdowns. Two of those went to Christian Watson, who caught four passes for 89 yards.

The Bears trailed 14-3 at halftime but went 7-of-9 on third down in the second half. One of those third-down failures set up Nixon’s winning interception.

The Packers led 21-14 entering the fourth quarter but the Bears had the momentum and their running game. It was a relentless assault of runs and play-action fakes. On the final play of the third quarter, Monangai ran for 9. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Monangai ran for 9.

After an incomplete pass, D’Andre Swift had back-to-back runs of 7. On third-and-1, Swift exploded through an opening for 8 more and into the red zone. Finally, after some too-cute play-calling, the Packers had the Bears facing third-and-8. Green Bay’s pass rush was ready to attack but Williams threw a sidearm screen to Luther Burden for 13 to the 5.

On third-and-goal at the 1, Williams threw a play-action touchdown to tight end Colston Loveland, who was wide open to tie the game with 8 minutes to go.

The Packers’ offense, frozen to the bench throughout the second half with the Bears plus-18 in plays, needed an answer.

On the first play, Josh Jacobs broke a tackle and ran for 11. On the next play, Love hit Jayden Reed, who was angling toward the sideline, for 18. On third-and-2 after a timeout, Jacobs seemed dead on an outside run.

Instead, he cut inside Gervon Dexter and broke a tackle by Gervon Dexter short of the sticks. That got him into the open field. He ran into safety Kevin Byard and stiff-armed him for an additional 8 yards for a 21-yard gain to the 7. On third-and-goal at the 2, Jacobs used his strength, will and determination to get into the end zone to make it 28-21 with 3:32 to go.

The Packers led 14-3 at halftime, with Love throwing a huge touchdown pass to an unlikely target.

The Packers had a full-strength receiver corps with the return of Jayden Reed from injured reserve and Matthew Golden from the inactives list. On first down from Chicago’s 45 late in the half, receiver-turned-cornerback Bo Melton lined up in the left slot. He was open on a deep post and Love threw a bomb. The ball got to Melton at the goal line just a fraction of an inch before Bears safety Jaquan Brisker could break up the pass.

The touchdown gave the Packers a 14-3 lead with 38 seconds left in the half.

After a scoreless first quarter, the Packers broke the ice with about 9 minutes left in the first half on Love’s 23-yard touchdown pass to Watson. Watson was matched one-on-one against safety Kevin Byard, the NFL interceptions leader.

Green Bay’s line expertly picked up a six-man pressure, so Love had plenty of time and Watson had plenty of speed to run under a pass that Love lofted toward the goal line. The big play on the drive was a third-and-2 bootleg pass to tight end Josh Whyle for 21.

At halftime, Love was 12-of-17 passing for 163 yards and two touchdown and one interception while Williams was 6-of-14 for just 32 yards. The Bears were 1-of-7 on third down.

The Packers had a chance to take command to start the second half but went three-and-out, and the Bears took advantage with a touchdown and two-point play to pull within 14-11 with 8:20 left in the third quarter.

Williams played the role of Houdini when he turned a sack into a 26-yard completion to Cole Kmet to Green Bay’s 11. After Williams’ touchdown pass, the Bears played the role of bully. Monangai was stopped cold on the two-point play but center Drew Dalman and left guard Joe Thuney pushed him across the line.

Just like that, it was 14-11 with 8:20 to play in the quarter.

Not for long. On third-and-3, Watson was simply too fast for C.J. Gardner-Johnson. Lining up on the right side of the formation, Watson was open in an instant on a slant and then turned on the jets for a 41-yard touchdown to make it 21-11.

The Bears answered with a field goal to cut the margin to 21-14 with 3:15 left in the third, and that was the score heading into the fourth quarter.

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