Redemption Stories Highlight Packers’ Huge Win Over Bears

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.