They’re hootin’ and hollerin’ and liable to throw a parade in Southwest Ohio after Cincinnati’s latest Joe Burrow update. Namely, the one that suggested “he could play Sunday”, in the Bengals’ Week 12 matchup against the New England Patriots.
That's massive news about one of the biggest names in the NFL. But apparently, the league is not too bothered by it.
In fact, after their recent schedule reconfiguration, it seems like they couldn’t care less about one of the faces of the league returning to action weeks before he was supposed to.
On Thursday afternoon, just a couple of hours after the Joe Burrow news hit the airwaves, the NFL still went ahead with its own update.
According to Ari Meirov and others, the NFL’s update concerned the Week 14 schedule and a very notable decision to flex what could now be a premier QB matchup between Josh Allen and Joe Burrow back into the 1 PM EST time slot and out of FOX’s coveted ‘Game of the Week’ slot at 4:25 PM EST for Week 14:
“NFL schedule change: The Week 14 Bears-Packers game is now at 4:25pm ET on FOX instead of 1:00 ET. The Week 14 Bengals-Bills game is now at 1:00 ET on FOX instead of 4:25 ET. … Even with Joe Burrow sounding like he’s back, the NFL is kicking Bengals–Bills out — and most of the country will now get Bears–Packers in Week 14.”
Even with Joe Burrow sounding like he’s back, the NFL is kicking Bengals–Bills out — and most of the country will now get Bears–Packers in Week 14. https://t.co/WCY2dyokpy
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 20, 2025
While FOX’s top broadcast guy, Tom Brady, continues to muddle his way through color commentator duties, a QB matchup between Allen and Burrow would seem to be exactly the type of battle the greatest QB of all-time could have really sunk his teeth into.
NFL loves to push the Packers-Bears rivalry
Alas, the NFL continues its Sisyphean push to make the oldest rivalry in the sport, Green Bay Packers vs. Chicago Bears, a relevant and exciting matchup. To their credit, this would seem to be the year where they could finally make it look like a proper, even rivalry.
The Aaron Rodgers era was a bit one-sided, with the Packers winning 24 of 29. Numbers like that make his whole, “I own you” thing with Chicago a little more reasonable and understandable. (Rodgers takes on the Bears this Sunday, which is a game that holds a lot more drama than Green Bay-Chicago if we’re being honest.)
But, for the first time since the days of Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs, and Rex Grossman, the Bears actually seem like they’ve got a competitive team. The decision to put this matchup front and center in Week 14 is fair enough—they just need to hold strong.
Otherwise, the league is going to be kicking itself if they head into that 4:25 Bears-Packers kickoff on the heels of an all-time QB duel between Allen and Burrow in the early window.
But that’s the risk they’re willing to take for the sake of propping up a historic NFL rivalry like Packers-Bears.