The NFL has made its official judgment on the spat between Chicago Bears receiver Luther Burden III and Green Bay Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon from last Sunday. Clear as day on replay, Burden put his hands around Nixon’s neck, which led to Nixon pushing Burden off. In real time, referees only caught Nixon’s actions, resulting in a 15-yard penalty and a momentary benching. The NFL felt the blame was misplaced, though, as the league did not fine Nixon for his actions, while Burden was.
On Saturday, the league announced that Burden was fined $11,075 for “unnecessary roughness.” For perspective, Burden’s base P5 salary this year (all of his game checks) is worth $840,000, breaking down to about $47k a week during the regular season. So he lost about one-quarter of his game check (pre-tax) for the choke attempt.
This marks the ninth time that a Bear has been fined for the league this year. For perspective, the Packers have only been fined six times in 2025:
- $11,593 for S Xavier McKinney for taunting in Week 1
- $6,891 for LB Ty’Ron Hopper for a face mask in Week 2
- $17,389 for LB Quay Walker for roughing the passer in Week 7
- $6,448 for S Evan Williams for impermissible use of the helmet in Week 9
- $12,172 for DE Micah Parsons for striking/kicking/kneeing in Week 10
- $6,789 for DT Colby Wooden for a face mask in Week 11
Personally, I think trying to choke another player out is worth more of a fine than taunting…but maybe that’s just me.
