Channeling Vince Lombardi, Xavier McKinney Doesn’t Have Time to Celebrate

Green Bay Packers safety Xavier McKinney is tied for the NFL lead in interceptions entering Sunday’s game at the Chicago Bears. Here’s why.

Green Bay Packers safety Xavier McKinney (29) celebrates an interception against the Minnesota Vikings. / William Glasheen/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – In the NFL, there’s a 24-hour rule. Win or lose, a player gets 24 hours to celebrate a victory or wallow in defeat before moving onto the next game.

For Green Bay Packers safety Xavier McKinney, it’s more like a 24-minute rule.

A few weeks ago, McKinney intercepted his sixth pass of the season in a win at Jacksonville. On the bus on the way to the airport, McKinney texted defensive backs coach Ryan Downard.

Was the film of Lions quarterback Jared Goff ready?

“That’s what the great ones’ mentality is,” defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said.

McKinney is having a Defensive Player of the Year-caliber season. He is tied for the NFL lead with a career high in interceptions, and the Packers are 6-3 due in part to what McKinney has done on the field and in the locker room.

Why not enjoy it?

“I’ll enjoy it when I can win the Super Bowl,” McKinney said before Sunday’s game at the Chicago Bears. “For the most part, once you win, it’s in the past. Obviously, you figure out what you could’ve done better and you look at that but, for me, win or loss, it’s onto the next.

“I think that’s just the mindset that you have to have in this league because it’s a competitive league. Every team is going to be different, every week is going to be different. I just try to make sure that I’m always one step ahead and try to get a day ahead.”

With Downard, McKinney has a kindred spirit as his position coach.

McKinney was named the NFC’s Defensive Player of the Month for October. It was a great accomplishment, but the Packers didn’t sign McKinney – and McKinney isn’t playing for – Player of the Week or Player of the Month awards.

“I went right to X when he walked out [of the team meeting], just like I always do, and I told him to, ‘Ignore that noise,’ because I don’t want him looking at that stuff right now,” Downard said. “Naturally, let’s be real, he sees it, he hears it. That’s a great honor, awesome, but that’s not the goal that we set. That’s not the goal for himself that he set. That sounds like a little coachspeak, but I really believe that. …

“People say stuff to me about it. My wife sent me the graphic [after McKinney won the award], so I go right to X and I say, ‘You stop listening to that stuff.’ They don’t validate who he is and he’s got much more to accomplish. He probably thinks I’m a little bit of a prick, but that’s the approach he’s got to have. He won’t be affected by that, but he probably looks at me a little crazy when I say those things to him.”

Not crazy. Appreciated.

“Obviously, that’s not the end goal,” McKinney said. “I think he knows just as well as I know, and that’s why I love him so much because he’s always going to push me to be better.

#Packers star Xavier McKinney put Bears WR D.J. Moore on blast today. https://t.co/zHwA7Balzf

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) November 14, 2024

“Obviously, it’s good to get that accomplishment and be able to get that accolade but, at the end of the day, there’s more to get and there’s more to do. I love when he holds me to that standard of, ‘All right, let that go.’ I’m already like that but just somebody else in my ear, ‘Hey, don’t worry about that. Onto the next.’”

Before being drafted by the Giants in the second round of the 2020 draft, McKinney starred at Alabama. However, McKinney’s mind-set predated his time with legendary Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban.

“It’s how I’ve always been wired,” McKinney said. “I’m just always trying to get better. I’m trying to find ways to be a better player because I know my game is not perfect.”

McKinney might not be perfect, but he is the perfect example for Downard to point to in a position group that includes two rookie starters with Javon Bullard and Evan Williams.

He’s made a bunch of big plays but he’s not chasing them at the detriment of the defense. According to Sports Info Solutions, McKinney has more interceptions (six) than completions allowed (five). Pro Football Focus has charged him with only three missed tackles.

It’s not often a huge free-agent signing is worth every penny of his contract, but his four-year, $67 million contract almost seems like a bargain considering what he’s meant to the defense.

Part of it, obviously, is his talent. But he’s doing everything possible to maximize his God-given ability.

“Really competitive,” Hafley said. “Last night, I get a text from him (at) probably 6:30 that says, ‘Hey, are you done with the third-down plan yet? Can you send it to me?’ And you send it to him, and then this morning he comes in before anybody else and he wants to sit down and meet and he wants me to go over it with him.

“And then he goes over it with RD and the DBs, and he does it in the walk-through and he does it on the field, because he wants to get it right, right away, and he gets angry when he doesn’t, because that’s what the great ones do. And he holds himself to such a high standard where he doesn’t want to make mistakes, and it shows.

“That’s what your really good players (do). Every play matters, just like it does to us. So, that’s the biggest kind of look-in I can give you to what he’s like. He’s always wanting to be on top of his stuff. The details, the execution, the competitor – that’s who he is, and that’s why he’s a really good player.”

McKinney’s mindset would make the legendary Vince Lombardi proud.

“I’m continuously trying to chase perfection,” he said. “I may not ever be able to touch it but, for me, I’m just trying to find ways where I can improve immediately (snaps fingers). Even in college, the spring game, right after that game or whatever the case may be, I would go into the film and I’d rewatch everything just so it’s fresh in my mind and I’m getting those corrections early.

“That way, when we come back in and watch with the coaches, I’ve already watched it, so you’re going over the same thing. If you look at something 10 different times, you’re going to find 10 different things where you can improve your game. That’s how I see it and how I go about it.”

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