Packers Star Seemingly Losing Confidence in NFC North Rivalry

The Green Bay Packers have been able to dominate their rivalry with the Chicago Bears in recent years. Despite a loss to the Bears in Week 18, the Packers have gone 9-1 against Chicago in the current decade and have won 16 of the past 19 meetings dating back to 2015.

But while the Packers made the playoffs and the Bears finished last in the NFC North, Chicago scored an offseason victory when they hired Ben Johnson as their head coach. The 38-year-old was a hot commodity during this year’s coaching cycle and one Packers star believes Chicago could be more competitive with Johnson leading the way.

Xavier McKinney Believes Packers/Bears Rivalry Will Be More Competitive With Ben Johnson's Arrival

Packers safety Xavier McKinney gave the Bears some praise during an appearance on the “NFL Spotlight” podcast with Ari Meirov earlier this week. When referring to the rivalry with Chicago, McKinney noted that Johnson’s arrival will help them and make things a little more interesting moving forward.

“I think the Bears are going to have a really good team, especially having [Johnson] now,” McKinney said. “But we accept the challenge and we can’t wait to compete with these teams every year.”

McKinney may be right when he believes the Bears’ stock is rising. With Johnson pairing with Caleb Williams, Chicago’s offense could look drastically different than it did a year ago. The Bears also have $62.9 million in cap space entering this offseason, which could help them narrow the gap with the Packers. 

The Packers earned a 20-19 victory in Chicago back on Nov. 17 but it took plenty of dramatics to do it as Jordan Love scored on a quarterback sneak with just under three minutes to play and Karl Brooks blocked a potential game-winning field goal by Cairo Santos to walk out of Soldier Field with the win. 

The pendulum swung in the Bears’ favor when the two teams met at Lambeau Field in the final game of the season. Chicago raced out to a 14-3 lead early, withstood a Packer rally and won on a 51-yard field goal by Santos on Jan. 5.

The competitive nature of the two games probably sticks in McKinney’s mind as he heads into the offseason but so does the hiring of Johnson. The former offensive coordinator under Dan Campbell, Johnson helped the Lions win six of the past seven meetings with Green Bay, including both meetings this past season.

While some may have wished Johnson took a job outside of the division, his decision makes the NFC North even tougher after the Packers, Lions and Minnesota Vikings made the playoffs last season. That’s bad news for Green Bay’s return to the playoffs but also raises the level of play within a division that surprised McKinney when he arrived in free agency last season.

“I thought when I was with the [New York] Giants, the [NFC East] was good but this one is way better,” McKinney said. “There’s a lot of good teams and now that you have Ben Johnson to the Bears, you got four teams that are playoff contending teams, and Super Bowl contending teams.”

McKinney’s comments indicate that he thinks the Bears will be a better team in 2025. But after Johnson’s comments during his introductory press conference, it’s a sign the Packers’ biggest rivalry will be a lot more competitive in the coming years.

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