GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Keisean Nixon couldn't have picked a better time to get his first interception of the season.
Nixon picked off Caleb Williams' pass in the end zone with 22 seconds remaining to preserve Green Bay's 28-21 victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday, and the Packers moved into first place in the NFC North.
“Man, I've been trying to get my hand on the ball all year,” Nixon said. “I wanted that bad. I wanted it so bad.”
The Bears (9-4)
were facing fourth-and-1 from Green Bay’s 14-yard line when Williams faked a handoff and rolled to his left. Tight end Cole Kmet had gotten behind Nixon in the end zone, but Nixon made a leaping catch of the underthrown pass.
“In those moments, it’s, you know, a got-to-have-it moment,” said Williams, who went 19 of 35 for 186 yards with two touchdowns. “And they had a guy trailing me, so, I didn’t feel like I could go get it myself (by running the ball). Just got to give Cole a better shot at it. I think next time, just extend him a little bit more and kind of lead him.”
Josh Jacobs scored the tiebreaking touchdown on a 2-yard run with 3:32 remaining as the Packers (9-3-1) won their fourth straight and snapped the Bears' five-game winning streak.
This was the last of three straight divisional games for the Packers, who trounced Minnesota 23-6 on Nov. 23 and won 31-24 at Detroit on Thanksgiving Day. The Packers are 4-0 against NFC North foes after going 1-5 in the division last season.
“That was the biggest thing we wanted to harp on in the offseason was divisional games,” Jacobs said. “We know how important they are.”
Packers coach Matt LaFleur improved his record against the Bears to 12-1, the lone loss coming in the final week of the 2024 season. It came in his first head-to-head matchup with rookie Bears coach Ben Johnson.
During his introductory news conference, Johnson said, “to be quite frank with you, I kind of enjoyed beating Matt LaFleur twice a year.” Johnson was Detroit’s offensive coordinator last season when the Lions swept the Packers.
LaFleur declined to comment on that remark, but Packers offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said, “you take it personal, for sure. I’ll just leave it at that.”
This game featured plenty of hot tempers in cold weather, with a kickoff temperature of 16 degrees Fahrenheit (minus-9 Celsius). Afterward, LaFleur said he didn't take any extra satisfaction from beating Johnson.
“Absolutely not,” LaFleur said. “It's Packers-Bears. It's a great rivalry, and certainly with what was at stake in regards to positioning in the NFC North, that's the only thing that matters.”
The teams meet again on Dec. 20 at Chicago.
Green Bay’s Jordan Love went 17 of 25 for 234 yards with three touchdowns — two to Christian Watson and one to Bo Melton — and one interception. Watson's touchdowns were from 23 and 41 yards, while Melton had a 45-yard score.
Jacobs set up his go-ahead touchdown with a spectacular 21-yard run.
The Packers were facing third-and-2 from Chicago’s 28 when Love pitched right to Jacobs. Chicago’s Montez Sweat, Gervon Dexter, D’Marco Jackson and Jaylon Johnson were all converging on Jacobs behind the line of scrimmage.
Jacobs somehow got through all of them and raced 21 yards before Kevin Byard finally brought him down. Jacobs then scored with a physical run up the middle on third-and-goal.
“I think we all got there, all made good reads and then I felt like I got bumped off and didn’t finish the play, honestly,” Jaylon Johnson said. “It’s hard to say what happened in the moment. But at the end of the day, that’s a play we’ve all got to make again. There was four people there, including myself. I at least got to finish the play and make it off the field.”
After getting outscored 14-3 and outgained 207 yards to 71 in the first half, Chicago rallied to tie it with two touchdowns and a field goal on its first three second-half possessions. Williams threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Olamide Zaccheaus and Cairo Santos kicked a 41-yard field goal in the third quarter.
Williams floated a 1-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Colston Loveland on third-and-goal to tie the game midway through the fourth quarter. That capped a 17-play, 83-yard drive lasting over 8 1/2 minutes.
Williams, who has orchestrated five fourth-quarter comebacks this year, still had plenty of time to try for another. He got Chicago into scoring position with completions of 27 yards to Luther Burden and 24 yards to Devin Duvernay.
Chicago faced third-and-1 from the 14 when Kingsley Enagbare stuffed Kyle Monangai for no gain. That set up Nixon's game-clinching play.
“That’s what you want,” Nixon said. “You want the best players to make the big plays when your back’s against the wall and you’ve got to win. It’s fourth-and-1. Ain’t no bigger play than that.”
Bears: CB Nahshon Wright left in the fourth quarter. WR Rome Odunze (foot) didn't play.
Packers: LB Kristian Welch left with a concussion. DL Lukas Van Ness (foot) didn't play.
Bears: Host Cleveland next Sunday.
Packers: Visit Denver next Sunday.
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