Redemption Stories Highlight Packers’ Huge Win Over Bears

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Sunday’s game between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears had a lot on the line. The winner was going to be in the driver’s seat for first place in the NFC North as well as to earn a top seed in the NFC playoffs.

As the game progressed, the stakes only got higher.

The Packers scored a go-ahead touchdown when Josh Jacobs barreled over the goal line with 3:32 left in the game. Chicago’s offense got in position to score what could have been a touchdown to tie the game or potentially win it had coach Ben Johnson opted to go for two and the win.

The stakes rose further in the final moments, when the Bears faced a fourth-and-1 from the Packers’ 14-yard line.

After faking the handoff, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams rolled to his left and flicked the ball toward the end zone to tight end Cole Kmet. As the ball hung in the air, so too did the balance of the NFC playoff picture.

Keisean Nixon, the Packers’ embattled cornerback, made the play of the game with a brilliant interception in the back of the end zone to catapult the Packers into first place.

It was one of a handful of big plays in the game by someone in Green Bay who had a sour taste in his mouth with the Bears in town.

Let’s start with the hero on defense.

Prior to the game-sealing interception, Nixon may have been in line to be one of the goats of the game. During the second quarter, Nixon was flagged for two separate penalties and even found himself on the bench after a personal foul against Chicago receiver Luther Burden III.

Green Bay Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon (25) intercepts a pass in the end zone to clinch the win over the Bears. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Personal fouls are plays that coach Matt LaFleur has said he takes personally. Nixon is a player who toes the line between aggressive and reckless. It’s part of his play style. In a game with stakes like the ones the Packers were facing on Sunday, LaFleur took action.

“Yeah, I’m not going to get into what I said to him,” LaFleur said. “He knows what I said to him. We had a quick conversation and you’ve got to be smart. You’ve got to keep your poise. I get it. Football is an emotional game, especially when you talk about Packers-Bears.”

Nixon responded to the benching with a near-miss on an interception that resulted in Chicago’s first touchdown of the game. It felt as if nothing was going right for the Packers’ top cornerback.

Cornerback is a tough position. They often are talked only about if they’re giving up big plays, or making them. Nixon is second in the NFL with 16 passes defensed but first among cornerbacks with 12 penalties.

A short memory and overwhelming confidence are necessities, and that’s something Nixon has in abundance.

“At the corner position, you have to have swag. Confidence,” defensive back Javon Bullard said. “There’s something about, when you walk in, you’ve got to know that you’re the best guy walking in the building, and he’s got that.

“No matter what goes on on the play, the next play, that series, it’s always about his swag. And we love it. And we know the type of player that he is, the style that he plays. We know the swag that he brings. We know the aggression that he plays with and, really, just the want-to that he has.

“We love him. That’s a guy that I pride myself on playing alongside because I know he’s going to give me 100 percent every time he steps on the field.”

That 100 percent that Nixon gives, according to Bullard, is included in the mental side of the game, which was how Nixon saved the game and earned a comparison to Jesus of Nazareth.

“Kind of off instinct, took off and played the flat and was praying that somebody was behind me to make the play on the corner and, sure enough, like, Jesus himself, 25 comes out of the blue and makes a play,” safety Evan Williams said. “I was just like, ‘Thank you. Thank you so much.’”

That interception harkened Nixon back to another big interception he had when he picked off Patrick Mahomes in December 2023. That big play sparked the Packers to a big win over the Chiefs and showed up again in the final moments against Chicago.

Here's the end-zone view of Keisean Nixon's game-saving interception. pic.twitter.com/0rqlrnO3Ir
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) December 8, 2025

“My guy went behind the backfield and I was chasing. I saw the tight end freeze, so I knew he was the only person to get the ball,” Nixon said. “So, I just ran to him and he threw the ball.”

Had Nixon not been there, Kmet would have been dancing in the end zone with the Packers potentially facing one play to win or lose the game. Instead, Nixon sealed the game in a moment of redemption from his benching.

Nixon was not the only player who had a moment of redemption, and that player was one of the big reasons that Nixon and the defense had a chance to win the game.

Just 11 months ago, Christian Watson faced the Bears in the regular-season finale when he took off on a route against Jaylon Johnson. His knee buckled and he crumbled to the ground as Lambeau Field fell silent.

As Watson laid on the ground, it would have been normal for him to wonder if his career in Green Bay had just ended. Watson entered this season with an expiring contract and was not going to be cleared to start the season.

His future got even cloudier when the Packers drafted two receivers with their first three selections in April, including Matthew Golden in the first round.

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson outruns the Bears' defense for a touchdown on Sunday. | Sarah Kloepping/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Packers consistently talk about how much they valued Watson, and put their money where their mouth was with a one-year extension that Watson signed in September to put to rest questions about his immediate future.

From there, Watson continued to attack his rehab. Watson not only beat the expectations of when he could return, he’s emerged into the team’s best receiver. Furthermore, he is playing better than ever.

Watson announced his presence with a four catch, 84-yard game in his debut against the Steelers on Oct. 26. Since that game, Watson has scored five touchdowns, including two on Sunday against the team that turned his career upside down.

Watson opened the scoring with a 23-yard touchdown when he ran away from Chicago safety Kevin Byard and caught a casual flick from Jordan Love behind an offensive line that perfectly picked up a blitz from Chicago. It wasn’t the last big play Watson would make.

Chicago put together a scoring drive to make the score 14-11 in the third quarter when Watson responded again.

This time, it was a 41-yard catch-and-run touchdown. Watson beat Chauncey Gardner-Johnson clean off the line of scrimmage, Love hit him in stride, and Watson ran away from the rest of Chicago’s defense.

"He’s the gazelle, man."
- Bo Melton on Christian Watson. pic.twitter.com/utM9whKKkN
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) December 8, 2025

“It means a lot to me, for sure,” Watson said. “Honestly, I tried not to think about it that much, but as the game was kind of getting going, it was definitely creeping in my mind a little bit. I’m just so thankful and blessed to be able to do what I do, and I’m glad that today panned out how it did, for sure.”

Since returning to the lineup in Week 8, Watson is tied for third in the NFL with five touchdown receptions and 18.1 yards per catch.

“Yeah, he’s a dynamic player, and we’ve got to continue to find ways to get him the ball,” LaFleur said. “I think, obviously, three pretty explosive plays, the two touchdowns. I'm just really proud of how he has [responded to] what happened a year ago vs. the Chicago Bears and how he's worked to get himself into a spot now where you go out and you see what he can do.

“I’ve got a lot of love and a lot of respect for Christian Watson.”

Add it all together, and Watson and Nixon received game balls in the locker room in what is football in its essence.

It's never easy in this league pic.twitter.com/He9uMCPDv8
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) December 8, 2025

The game is going to be hard. Moments will be trying, but in those big spots, there will be opportunities for redemption.

With the NFC North in the balance, two of Green Bay’s top playmakers took different paths to redemption, but in finding it, the Packers find themselves on top of the division.

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