There’s a reason Green Bay Packers safety Xavier McKinney is one of the most respected voices in the locker room. The two-time All-Pro doesn’t sugarcoat things.
The Packers entered the 2025 season with hopes of bringing a Lombardi Trophy back to Green Bay. Instead, the team blew a 17-point halftime lead in Saturday’s 31-27 loss to the Chicago Bears in the Wild Card.
“It doesn’t always happen how you want it to happen, unfold how you want it to unfold, but it’s a part of it. Sometimes you need that,” McKinney said Monday. “It’s unfortunate, but sometimes you need a loss like that to be able to learn from it. That’s going to help us learn from our mistakes and what we can do better.”
McKinney went on to point out that the Packers will see the Bears again. Obviously, losing to them in the postseason carries a little more weight, but the two teams may see each other again soon on a similar stage.
Chicago has found its franchise quarterback in Caleb Williams and a talented offensive-minded head coach in Ben Johnson. Meanwhile, Green Bay will return many of its core players and is expected to try to work out a long-term contract extension with Matt LaFleur.
However, returning a healthy amount of the roster doesn’t guarantee that the Packers will suddenly be the NFC North favorite in 2026. The offseason will need to be spent trying to figure out why this team can’t get out of its own way in its pursuit of a Super Bowl. Much of that work, according to McKinney, will need to be internal.
“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,” he said.
Not being able to finish has become the Packers’ identity. Since their Super Bowl run in 2010, the franchise has gone through a number of seasons where they didn’t meet expectations or suffered through playoff heartbreaks.
Saturday’s wild-card loss to the Bears was yet another wasted opportunity for Green Bay, but now that it’s over, how the team responds to it is the only thing that matters.
“We had the opportunity, and we didn’t seize it,” said McKinney. “Sometimes it happens like that. It’s not going to be perfect all the time. You’re 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. In order to do that, you need your failures. You need to take those losses. You need to take those lessons because that’s how you learn from them. That’s how you grow from them, and that’s how you become a better team.”
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Packers have to look in the mirror after season-ending loss to Bears