Xavier McKinney Never Satisfied as He Chases Perfection

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.