Xavier McKinney Brings Culture Shift, Big Plays vs. 49ers

One reason why the Green Bay Packers signed Xavier McKinney was to get them past a team that had been a perennial thorn in their side. McKinney was one of the stars on Sunday.

Green Bay Packers safety Xavier McKinney (29) returns an interception against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. / Tork Mason / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Xavier McKinney knew what he was signing up for.

He knew what he wanted when he joined the Green Bay Packers.

It’s a vision he’s held since entering the NFL.

McKinney played his college football at Alabama, a perennial powerhouse. He won the national championship in his final season with the Crimson Tide.

He was drafted the following April in the second round by the New York Giants.

The Giants qualified for the playoffs once during his four seasons there, winning a wild-card game against the Minnesota Vikings before being dismissed by the Philadelphia Eagles.

When the Giants appeared ready to allow McKinney to hit free agency, he knew he wanted to go somewhere he could win.

An added bonus was that he got to team up with his former college teammate, Josh Jacobs.

Jacobs and McKinney agreed to sign with the Packers just hours apart on Day 1 of free agency.

Free agency is an uncertain process that can happen quickly. There’s a reality of having to move states, schools and homes.

Having someone that you know going through the same thing was something that was comforting for McKinney.

“We was real happy to be back on the same team,” McKinney said after Green Bay’s 38-10 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

“I know what he’s made of. We’re cut from the same cloth, so it’s fun to be able to be with a guy that I know personally. We’re good friends. … It’s like family. Just to be back on the same team with him and see him dominate and see him doing what he’s doing now, it’s great to see.”

The Packers did not give McKinney a four-year, $67 million contract just to be a good story.

He was brought in to transform Green Bay’s defense.

Perhaps more importantly, he was brought in to get the Packers past a team that has been a perennial thorn in their side.  

McKinney learned a lot during his first day in Green Bay, but there was one thing that stuck out.

“Hell, yeah.” McKinney said when asked if Sunday’s game had a little more juice.

“When I first got here, the first meeting that I had here, that’s what we talked about, the 49ers. We knew that in order to get where we want to get to, we have to go through them. So, I already knew what it was from the very beginning, and we’re going to keep it going from here.”

There was a good reason for the focus of that first meeting.

Whether it was Colin Kaepernick running all over Dom Capers’ defense, San Francisco’s special teams blocking a punt at Lambeau Field or Dre Greenlaw’s interceptions, the 49ers have ended Green Bay’s season five times since the 2012 regular season.

No, Sunday’s 38-10 win over the 49ers is not going to wash away the pain that they’ve inflicted over the last decade.

It was not a playoff game. This was not revenge.

What it was, however, was the dawning of a new attitude in Green Bay.

Far too often during those playoff failures, the 49ers were the bully on the block.

They shut down Green Bay’s high-powered offenses led by Aaron Rodgers and his bevy of receivers.

They ran the ball down Green Bay’s throat.

They were the more physical team. Whether or not those Packers teams would admit it, it was clear to everyone watching those games.

Now? McKinney almost laughed when the question was posed to him about Green Bay punching back against their perennial bully.

“We consider ourselves as bullies,” McKinney said. “We understand it’s going to be bully vs. bully sometimes and we’re going to see who’s the bigger bully. That’s kind of what it was today.”

Keisean Nixon, who had a forced fumble in Sunday’s win, agreed.

“Hell, yeah,” Nixon said when asked if Sunday’s game meant more. “They put us out last year, so we knew what that felt like. We came in the game and said we never want to feel like that again, especially not against this team.

“We knew they gotta run through us and we gotta run through them, and they came to see us.”

This time, it was the Packers who were the physical presence, punching the 49ers’ defense in the mouth on the opening drive with 37 yards on the ground from Jacobs. He lowered the boom with three 1-yard touchdown runs in which he ran around, over and through 49ers defenders.

When the 49ers were trying to make it a game, it was McKinney slamming the door shut in the third quarter.

A fourth-down pass breakup and his team-leading seventh interception of the season quelled any hopes that the 49ers would have had for a comeback.

Culture change. Playmaking. Playing well in the team’s biggest games.

McKinney and Jacobs have done all of that and more in just 11 games. It was fully on display in Sunday’s game.

Perhaps it will lead to a different result in the postseason.

“I came here on a mission,” McKinney said. “I’m not going to fall short of that. I know what I’m here to do. I know what I want to accomplish in my career, so I’m going to keep working and keep doing as much as I can to be able to provide for my team and for this defense and for us to be as successful as we can be.”

Latest Green Bay Packers News 

Yeah, but the 49ers were injured.
How about that red-zone offense!
LaFleur was given the rarest of gifts.

Here are this week's #Packers Overreactions. ⬇️https://t.co/23xMIbYwMy

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) November 25, 2024

Tom Brady on Josh Jacobs, Packers | Three Overreactions | Snaps, studs and duds | Packers report card | Updated NFC playoff picture | Packers-49ers: What happened and what’s ahead? | Fan reaction | Packers stock report | Packers 38, 49ers 10 | Packers-49ers: Live updates | Eight starters out for 49ers | Preview, playoffs, prediction | Three reasons why Packers will win | Jeff Hafley misses the point | Christian Watson’s mature comment | Jordan Love vs. Aaron Rodgers through 25 starts | Jordan Love’s no-flinch throw | Tucker Kraft chasing mentor George Kittle