When linebacker Ty\u2019Ron Hopper intercepted a fourth-and-1 pass from the Green Bay 6-yard-line by Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams with 3:11 left in the third quarter on Saturday night, the Packers appeared to have a ticket to the second round of the NFL playoffs nearly in hand.<\/p>\n
The Bears hadn\u2019t punted but had only six points and trailed by 15. With its two field goals, Chicago had been stopped on downs twice and Williams had thrown an earlier interception.<\/p>\n
Green Bay didn\u2019t stop Chicago again. On the Bears\u2019 three fourth-quarter touchdown drives, Williams completed 10-of-19 passes for 184 yards with two touchdowns as he rallied his team to a 31-27 victory<\/a>. He had six completions that gained at least 21 yards, including a fourth-and-8 throw for 27 yards with 5:07 to play and Chicago trailing by 11 points.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had the opportunity, and we didn\u2019t seize it,\u201d Packers safety Xavier McKinney said<\/a> on Monday. \u201cSometimes it happens like that. It\u2019s not going to be perfect all the time. You\u2019re not going to have success all the time. Failures are a part of not only football, but life. You got to be able to figure out ways where you can become successful. And I think in order to do that, you need your failures. You need to take those losses. You need to take those lessons because that\u2019s how you learn from them. That\u2019s how you grow from them. And that\u2019s how you become better, you know, a better team.\u201d<\/p>\n FOR MORE OF AL.COM\u2019S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE<\/a><\/p>\n When the Packers defeated the Bears 28-21 on Dec. 7, Green Bay had a 9-3-1 record and passed Chicago for the lead in the NFC North. The Packers didn\u2019t win another game, finishing the campaign with five losses in a row, including a 22-16 overtime setback against the Bears on Dec. 20.<\/p>\n \u201cIt don\u2019t always happen how you want it to happen, unfold how you want it to unfold,\u201d McKinney said<\/a> after Saturday\u2019s season-ending defeat. \u201cBut it\u2019s a part of it sometimes. You need that. It\u2019s unfortunate, but, you know, sometimes you need a loss like that to be able to learn from it, and I think that\u2019s what that\u2019s going to do. That\u2019s going to help us learn from our mistakes and what we can do better. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd then, like I said, like, that\u2019s not the last time we\u2019re going to be able to play the Bears, so we\u2019re going to have plenty more opportunities to be able to get our get-back and do what we need to do. <\/p>\n \u201cBut congrats to them. It\u2019s a good team. They\u2019re well-coached, and you just got to tip your hats to them. But, you know, for us, we just got to look in the mirror and figure out what we need to do better and find better ways to go out there and finish these games.\u201d<\/p>\n McKinney<\/a> received second-team recognition on The Associated Press All-Pro team<\/a> for the 2025 season after making the first team in 2024. The former Alabama <\/a>standout played his first four NFL seasons with the New York Giants before free agency brought him to Green Bay in 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cSame as any offseason — figuring out ways where I could be a better player, a better leader, a better teammate, just better in general, better in life,\u201d McKinney said<\/a> of his offseason plans. \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m striving to do, so, obviously, I get this time to kind of get away from the game a little bit, so take a little bit of time to enjoy my family, my loved ones that are around me and try to be better for them as well.\u201d<\/p>\n McKinney has played in a postseason victory, but it came with the Giants. On Jan. 15, 2023, New York defeated the Minnesota Vikings 31-24 in the first round. In each of McKinney\u2019s seasons with the Packers, Green Bay has lost in the wild-card round.<\/p>\n