Trailing the Packers 28-21, the Chicago Bears drove down Lambeau field in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, infiltrating the red zone en route to facing fourth and one at the 14-yard line. On Caleb Williams’ end zone pass for tight end Cole Kmet, it was Green Bay’s Keisean Nixon who came down with the ball, sealing a hard-fought division win with his first pick this season.
Postgame, running back Josh Jacobs joked that he told Nixon, “‘It’s about time man. You dropped about three of them.'”
Jacobs gives props to former Raiders teammate for big play in Green and Gold
It took Nixon 13 games, but picking off Williams on a gotta-have-it play was a maximally clutch way to get his first interception of 2025. Not only did the turnover end the Bears’ drive, it saved the Packers from the precipice of a worst-case scenario had Kmet hauled it instead. If head coach Ben Johnson opted to go for two and Chicago converted it, Green Bay would be looking at a 29-28 deficit with 27 seconds to go.
Needless to say, such an agonizing loss would have damaged their division hopes dramatically. The Packers would be two wins behind the Bears with a tough road game at 11-2 Denver upcoming.
Instead, they sit atop the NFC North at 9-3-1, with the upper hand moving forward.
Despite his ups and downs this season, failing to capitalize on multiple interception chances in earlier games, Nixon rising to the moment was a big reason why.
“So it’s good to see him – I’m happy he did it in the most critical part of the game, you know, the game-sealing pick,” Jacobs continued more seriously. “Shout out to him, man. He deserves all of that for sure.”
Before arriving in Green Bay, the two players were teammates with the Raiders from 2020-2021. Nixon joined the Packers in 2022, while Jacobs came over two seasons later.
He spoke on their continued relationship stemming from their time as Raiders, where Jacobs entered the league one year earlier, in 2019. He and Nixon remained in close proximity even after the latter left Las Vegas.
“You know, he stayed two minutes down the road, so he always at my house and stuff like that,” Jacobs said. “But I’m proud of him, man. Just to see him come in as a rookie and didn’t really have a good work ethic. Was a little chubby coming in. And just seeing him where he’s at now. As soon as he came to this place, how he dedicated himself to football and how he slowly, each year and really each week, he’s gotten better at his position.”
Indeed Nixon’s emergence was part of the reason the Packers were ready to move on from Jaire Alexander in the offseason. He entered the year as the CB1 and he and Carrington Valentine have supplied a solid one-two punch at cornerback amid Nate Hobbs’ injury and performance concerns. In year four with the Packers and his sixth in the NFL, Nixon is a key member of the Green Bay secondary.
Wm. Glasheen USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
From the other side of the ball, Jacobs recognizes Nixon’s importance to the team and his development as a player.
“Even when people doubted him, and counted him out, he hears the noise, you know, we talk about it, but just to see the way he responds and the belief he has in himself. I’m proud of him, man. I think he deserves it. You see just the things he’s been through in his life, the things that I know about him, with his mom and everything [Nixon’s mom passed away during the 2023 season]. I think he deserves everything that’s coming his way.”
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