The Chicago Bears schedule is out. On paper, it certainly looks like a difficult schedule. With so many marquee games on the schedule, which ones make the list as the top five games on the Bears’ schedule in 2025?
Let’s try and rank them. Here we go.
5. Minnesota Vikings at home, Monday Night Football, Week One
This game tickles the fancy for many reasons. Week one is obviously fantastic, the Bears are in primetime in week one with 20+ million pairs of eyeballs on them, and, to boot, this will most likely be JJ McCarthy’s first ever NFL start.
Last year’s draft class is off to a fantastic start and has the foundation to be one of the all-time great QB classes, but we haven’t seen JJ due to his season ending injury in the preseason last year. The Bears catching the Vikings in what is basically a rookie QB’s first ever start is a great place to begin the season.
4. Green Bay Packers at home, Saturday, Week Sixteen
For the second consecutive year, the Bears and Packers won’t be scheduled to be a primetime game out of the gate, but they do have a standalone game on Saturday, which could be a nighttime game depending on how Fox and the NFL choose to arrange the games that day.
The Bears had one of their games against the Packers consistently on either Thursday Night or Sunday Night Football the last few years but the NFL changed and allowed Fox to keep both games the last couple of years.
What adds intrigue to this particular game is that it’s the second time the Bears will play the Packers in 13 days. That will be a strange situation for the teams to prep for, and it will be interesting to see which team gains an advantage with the two games being so close together.
3. Washington Commanders on the road, Monday Night Football, Week Six
The Fail Mary revenge game. There is so much behind this game, of course this game has to be on primetime. Let’s start with the fact that the Bears will have a chance to avenge their loss last season that ended in an improbably Hail Mary after Matt Eberflus botched managing the end of the game and Tyrique Stevenson was flexing to the crowd rather than playing defense at the start of the play.
We also have the battle of one versus two in terms of the top two picks in the 2024 NFL Draft. Daniels certainly had the leg up on Caleb Williams in year one with the Commanders earning the playoff berth and Daniels winning rookie of the year. But Williams (with Ben Johnson in tow) will be looking to show that the Bears made the right choice selecting Williams first overall in the 2024 Draft.
2. Pittsburgh Steelers at home, Sunday, Week Twelve
Maybe it’s more me than the rest of the fans or maybe they are in lockstep with me, but man oh man, do I want the Bears to win this one.
I expect that we will hear that Aaron Rodgers has signed with the Steelers at some point in the next three or four weeks. Rodgers wanted to make sure the team didn’t draft a QB that he would get benched for in week six and I would guess he has no interest in participating in OTAs at this point either, so once those are cleared, he can put pen to paper.
Rodgers is 41 and you have to figure there’s a strong chance this would be his last season in the league, and if not, it’s still almost certainly his last game at Soldier Field. I hope the Bears pummel this team and send Rodgers off the field with his head held low.
1. Detroit Lions on the road, Sunday, Week Two
How is this game not on Sunday Night Football? I am baffled by the NFL’s decision here, but hey, most fans love the Noon kicks so enjoy this one too. Ben Johnson returns to Detroit as the head coach of one of the team’s main rivals.
How good will the Lions be without Johnson and Aaron Glenn? How good will the Bears be with an elite offensive playcaller atop their coaching staff? There’s so many interesting angles to this game and the fact that the NFL chose not to put Ben Johnson’s return to Detroit in primetime is puzzling to me, but regardless, it makes it the most interesting game on the schedule for me.