As the NFL calendar prepares for its official reveal this Thursday, rumors continue to point toward a historic Wednesday night launch at Lumen Field in Seattle. While facing the defending world champions in their building is a daunting task, perhaps putting Caleb Williams on the big stage to dismantle a champion starting the historically difficult title defense road could lead to an upset.
Bears QB Caleb Williams passes the ball against the Seahawks during the first quarter at Soldier Field. Daniel Bartel-Imagn
Dec 26, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Bears QB Caleb Williams passes the ball against the Seahawks during the first quarter at Soldier Field. Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images | Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images
Navigating Ring Night distractions and Seattle's defensive turnover
With Dallas confirmed for a Sunday Night Football start to its season against the Giants, the rumors about the Bears opening up the season at Seattle against the world champions in the league's Wednesday night NFL Kickoff seem all but written in cement.
Really, the only other option carrying some headliner value for the league besides the Bears against Seattle would be the L.A. Chargers and Justin Herbert at Seattle, but normally the season opener does not pit teams from different conferences. It has happened only five times since the NFL Kickoff series began in 2002. This seems to suggest pitting the previous year's Super Bowl teams won't happen, although it is a possibility.
The five possible Seattle opponents unaccounted for in Week 1 so far are the Bears, Patriots, Chargers, Chiefs, and Cardinals. Eliminate the Cardinals, because who wants to see Sam Darnold vs. Jacoby Brissette in the opener?
Eliminate Kansas City because the Chiefs want Patrick Mahomes to have more time to recover from an ACL tear and the league is likely to listen to them. Some teams carry weight when they whine. The Bears don't. The Chiefs do. The Bears get no compensatory picks when they deserve them, and they’ve been shafted since 2022 by officials to the tune of a league-worst minus-795 net penalty yards — in other words, penalty yards called against them minus yards called against opponents. No one else is within 211 yards of them.
Last time the Bears and Seahawks met Week 1, Jim Harbaugh led the Bears to a 17-0 win alongside two Neal Anderson Touchdown’s. pic.twitter.com/s73kTVb8ga https://t.co/CzAbvoxjTQ
— Griffin (@Griffin_BFTV) May 11, 2026
And if you still think the Chiefs don't get favored treatment from the league, wait until they get to play in the game at Madrid, Spain. They've also been whining about wanting to do that, too. Both will happen.
The Patriots have been in that season-opening game more than any team, so there is no big attraction. And right now, force-feeding any team coached by Mike Vrabel to the public just isn't really good PR.
No. The only option for this game is the Bears. All the aforementioned is basically trivial compared to the real reason it should and will be the Bears, and that's NBC and the league will see the obvious best possible television ratings if Caleb Williams is playing against the defending world champions.
Adam Schefter on the Pat McAfee show just gave an update on the Bears week 1 schedule:
"My guess right now is that it will be the Bears in Seattle for the Wednesday night opener against the Seahawks" pic.twitter.com/Kcxhv7A1y6
— Ficky (@itsfickybaby) May 11, 2026
The biggest TV share ever for that opening game was 27.5 million in 2010. The Bears would obliterate this. They had 45.4 million watching their playoff game with the Rams.
This being said, the Bears should be happy about playing in the game. Unless they are completely embarrassed, it could further certify their status as NFL powers with a young, rising QB and one of the league's geniuses for a coach. That's another reason it will get top billing. The network will be able to hype the genius young offensive coach. It’s Ben Johnson, who turned 40 today, against the genius young defensive-side head coach, 38-year-old Mike Macdonald.
HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY TO BEARS HC BEN JOHNSON
🐻⬇️ pic.twitter.com/uUpyx20B1s
— Bearsszn (@bearszn) May 11, 2026
All of those are reasons to expect it. There are valid reasons to think it's a good thing for the Bears and most are based on Seattle. None of them are how it's so difficult to win on ring night for the home team because of distractions. If that was the case, why have only four of the defending Super Bowl champions lost those games at home?
1.Seattle's defensive weakness
If you're going to face a defense that is truly Seattle's strength, the time to do it is early in the year because the Seahawks have a different secondary. The Bears have last year's safety, Coby Bryant. They're using either second-round rookie Bud Clark or Ty Okada in place of Bryant. They're also starting a rookie at cornerback, third-rounder Julian Neal. Let them try to figure out how to prevent big plays against Johnson's scheming.
Do the Chicago Bears have the best safety duo in the NFL?
Dillon Thieneman + Coby Bryant pic.twitter.com/cegv8wMdCM
— CAPTAIN CEEBEE 🏴☠️🐻⬇️ (@Bears_Hype_Man) April 24, 2026
2. Seattle's running game change
The running game was critical for Seattle last season, and Kenneth Walker is gone. They have rookie Jadarian Price, and no rookie back has had a 100-yard effort in a Week 1 game since Elijah Mitchell in 2021. They also have Zach Charbonnet, who going into his fourth year and is coming off his career best of 730 yards, or 53 yards less than Bears seventh-round back Kyle Monangai had as a mere rookie. Charbonnet has two career 100-yard games. Losing Walker is likely to exact a heavy toll from the Seahawks offense, and the Bears' defense would get to be the first benefiting.
3. Sam Darnold
He's with his fifth team, and until two years ago never threw for more than 3,024 yards and had a career passer rating of 78.3. Even last year Darnold threw for only 11 more touchdowns than he did interceptions. There are numerous quarterbacks who would better test Dennis Allen's defense than Darnold.
PICKED!
The Rams have intercepted Sam Darnold three times so far in today's game! 😲
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/ujdqiVnFPJ
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) November 16, 2025
4. New Seahawks coordinator
Seattle lost offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, who is now Raiders head coach. It would be the first game Brian Fleury calls as an offensive coordinator. He was a run game coordinator for the 49ers and a tight ends coach earlier. Kubiak had been an OC for the Vikings and Saints before he did it in San Francisco. Can Fleury be a play caller like Kubiak? That's an awfully big ask for someone with no experience at it. The Seahawks have a head coach who was a defensive coordinator, not an offensive guy.
Fernando Mendoza working on the nuances of Klint Kubiak’s faves
Toward the very end, here… he actually looks like Sam Darnold a bit the way he throws off the weak shoulder pic.twitter.com/7nSA3ZCqFz
— John Frascella (Football) (@NFLFrascella) May 2, 2026
5. Mini-bye weekend
Even if the Bears do play at Seattle in that Wednesday opener, and they lose in a tough place to play like everyone would expect, they get what virtually a bye week to recover from the opening game. As long as the league doesn't then slate them for Thursday Night Football the following week, they could have 11 days before playing again and working out the problems.
6. It's not 2025 anymore
Seattle got on a roll last year after losing its opener at home. The Seahawks finished with 10 straight wins. You couldn't ask for a greater opportunity to surprise a team than after they won a championship and are full of themselves. That aura of invincibility was last year. This is now. What does Seattle do if things go sideways? Panic and wonder how this could be happening to the champions? This is partially where the ring ceremony thing comes from, along with the great distraction such big nights create.
Confidence: Seahawks HC Mike Macdonald on hiring Brian Fleury as the new OC even though he has no play-calling experience.
“I do think it’s a bit overrated. All play-callers have to be first-time play-callers at some point.”
Mike is extremely confident in his roster 🔥👀 pic.twitter.com/SZNpscIQey
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) February 20, 2026
X: BearsOnSI
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