“Smoking the Bear pack” – Packers players go bonkers in the locker room after making it the playoffs following clutch win over Chicago

Green Bay Packers beat the Chicago Bears to reach the playoffs in week 18.

“Smoking the Bear pack” – Packers players go bonkers in the locker room after making it the playoffs following clutch win over Chicago

Packers CB Keisean Nixon celebrated with a cigar in his mouth after the Green Bay Packers beat the Chicago Bears (Screen grab YouTube)

Not reaching the playoffs was long forgotten after Keisean Nixon celebrated with a cigar in his mouth after the Green Bay Packers beat the Chicago Bears in the final game of the season. They ended the season with a 9-8 record and squandered it to clinch a playoff spot.

2023 has been an underwhelming season, not just for Nixon but for most of the Packers defenders. It raised the question of whether the owners will make any overhauls in the coaching department. Defensive coordinator Joe Barry‘s job was presumably in question. And Nixon’s tweet just a few days ago, before the Bears game, added fuel to the fire.

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There could be another reason for the tweet, though. Green Bay decided to let go of Rasul Douglas to the Buffalo Bills in the middle of the season. And he made it to the Pro Bowl, and not only that, Bears CB Tyrique Stevenson won defensive player of the week even though Nixon recorded a career-high 11 tackles and a half-sack in Week 17.

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It could have been any of those scenarios, but they still had work left to accomplish. Matt Eberflus‘s Packers still had a slim chance of making it to the playoffs. A win over the Bears was mandatory, and they required both the Seattle Seahawks and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to lose their games.

In the end, that mattered little, as Green Bay took a three-point lead in the second quarter and never looked back. The game ended 17-9, and the Packers finished the regular season as the runner-up in the NFC North with a .529 record and will play post-season football for the first time since 2021. And Nixon celebrated by doing Instagram Live with a cigar in his mouth inside the Packers locker room.

Keisean Nixon and the Green Bay Packers will play the Dallas Cowboys in the Wild Card

Packers quarterback Jordan Love finished his first season as a starter at Lambeau Field with 3843 passing yards, 30 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. Love pulled off something that neither his predecessors Brett Favre nor Aaron Rodgers managed.

The 25-year-old led the Packers to a playoff berth in his first season as the full-time starting quarterback. Both Favre and Rodgers had to wait until their second year to achieve that feat.

“Smoking the Bear pack” – Packers players go bonkers in the locker room after making it the playoffs following clutch win over Chicago Keisean Nixon
Green Bay Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon (Image via ESPN)

Keisean Nixon, who also works as a part-time punt returner, finished the Bears game with 4 tackles (3 solo and 1 assisted). The All-Pro corner finished the season with 79 tackles (58 solo and 21 assisted). His gaze will now turn to next week’s Wild Card game against the Dallas Cowboys because the Packers clinched the NFC #7 seed.

It means the Packers will face former head coach Mike McCarthy. This will only be McCarthy’s second time in the opposition dug out of Green Bay. His only tie resulted in a defeat in 2022.

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