Chicago Bears 2026 schedule: A closer look at each game - and our writers' predictions
The Chicago Bears are ready for the national spotlight - at least in the NFL schedule-makers’ minds.
The Bears will play seven stand-alone games: five prime-time matchups against the Philadelphia Eagles, New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Buffalo Bills and marquee contests against the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving and Green Bay Packers on Christmas.
Last season the Bears played five nationally televised games: versus the Minnesota Vikings in the season opener, at the Washington Commanders, at the Eagles on Black Friday, versus the Packers and at the San Francisco 49ers.
Thanks to their NFC North Division crown last season, the Bears landed a first-place slate this year and with it the league’s toughest schedule - their opponents had a combined .550 winning percentage in 2025.
Seven opponents made the playoffs last season, and five had at least 10 wins: the Seahawks (14-3), Patriots (14-3), Jacksonville Jaguars (13-4), Bills (12-5) and Eagles (11-6).
The Bears once again were skipped over for any of the league’s international games, a recording-breaking nine this season.
Here’s a breakdown of the full schedule, along with our Bears writers’ takes on what it all means for the Bears.
Week 1: Bears at Panthers
Sunday, Sept. 13, noon, Fox-32
The Bears season opener feels like a full-circle moment. Finally, there will be a true duel between Caleb Williams and Bryce Young, both of whom were the products of the monumental 2023 predraft trade between the Bears and Panthers. Young has faced the Bears twice, losing 16-13 to Tyson Bagent on Nov. 9, 2023, and playing in garbage time of a 36-10 blowout loss to the Bears on Oct. 6, 2024. Both games were at Soldier Field.
Biggs: Bears
Hammond: Bears
Thompson: Bears
Week 2: Vikings at Bears
Sunday, Sept. 20, noon, Fox-32
The Bears and Vikings split their two matchups last season, with Nazareth alumnus J.J. McCarthy and the Vikings erasing a late deficit to surprise the host Bears in the season opener on "Monday Night Football." A lot has changed since then for both franchises. New Vikings quarterback Kyler Murray is 2-1 in his career against the Bears.
Biggs: Bears
Hammond: Vikings
Thompson: Bears
Week 3: Eagles at Bears
Monday, Sept. 28, 7:15 p.m., ABC-7 and ESPN
After last year's Black Friday tilt, this matchup feels like it has the potential to be a pretty competitive interdivision rivalry in the NFC over the next few years. Both these teams want to run the ball at a high level - and the Bears did it better in their win in Philadelphia in November. The Eagles have been a fixture of the postseason over the last decade, and the Bears are looking to join them.
Biggs: Eagles
Hammond: Bears
Thompson: Eagles
Week 4: Jets at Bears
Sunday, Oct. 4, noon, Fox-32
Can you name the starting quarterbacks when the Bears and Jets last met in 2022? If you guessed Trevor Siemian and Mike White, props to you. White and the Jets won a late-November contest in the rain at MetLife Stadium with Justin Fields sidelined by an injury. This time, coach Aaron Glenn and the Jets will visit Soldier Field. Glenn versus Johnson will pit the two former Lions coordinators against one another for the first time.
Biggs: Bears
Hammond: Bears
Thompson: Bears
Week 5: Bears at Packers
Sunday, Oct. 11, 3:25 p.m., Fox-32
The Bears narrowly fell short of one of their patented comeback wins during their last trip to Lambeau Field, a 28-21 loss in Week 14. Now the Packers have reinforced the defense: They traded for linebacker Zaire Franklin, spent their first three draft picks (and four of their six) on that side of the ball and may welcome back Micah Parsons from an ACL tear. Williams and Packers quarterback Jordan Love are 2-2 head-to-head in the regular season, with Williams up 1-0 in the playoffs.
Biggs: Packers
Hammond: Packers
Thompson: Packers
Week 6: Bears at Falcons
Sunday, Oct. 18, noon, Fox-32
Maybe the Bears can find those lost compensatory draft picks in Atlanta, where former Bears assistant general manager Ian Cunningham is now GM. Too soon? Former Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski was coach of the year in 2020 and '23, and now he gets a fresh start with the Falcons. He'll match schemes against fellow offensive guru Johnson for the second time. Stefanski's Browns lost 31-3 to Johnson's Bears on Dec. 14 at Soldier Field.
Biggs: Bears
Hammond: Bears
Thompson: Bears
Week 7: Patriots at Bears
Thursday, Oct. 22, 7:15 p.m., Prime Video
The first of three-straight prime-time games, this looks like a heavyweight fight in the making. Drake Maye and Williams will square off for the second time in their careers but first since both got new coaches in Mike Vrabel and Johnson. Both franchises pulled off epic turnarounds in 2025, and Maye finished second in voting for NFL MVP. Maye and the Patriots won the 2024 matchup against Williams and the Bears in what proved to be Shane Waldron's final game as offensive coordinator. The Patriots sacked Williams a career-high nine times in a 19-3 win.
Biggs: Patriots
Hammond: Patriots
Thompson: Bears
Week 8: Bears at Seahawks
Monday, Nov. 2, 7:15 p.m., ABC-7 and ESPN
The Bears will have a long layoff going from Thursday night in Week 7 to Monday night in Week 8. We get the matchup we could've had in last year's NFC championship game if not for Williams' game-sealing interception in a 20-17 divisional-round playoff loss in overtime to the Los Angeles Rams. The Seahawks went on to win the Super Bowl, so the Bears get a midseason test to see if they're championship-caliber.
Biggs: Seahawks
Hammond: Seahawks
Thompson: Seahawks
Week 9: Buccaneers at Bears
Sunday, Nov. 8, 7:20 p.m., NBC-5
This game will round out the trio of prime-time matchups for the Bears. The Bears and Bucs haven't met since 2023, and they haven't played in Chicago since the Bears shocked everyone and beat the Tom Brady-led Bucs on a Thursday night in October 2020. Coach Todd Bowles' defenses are always challenging, and the Bucs reloaded with edge rusher Rueben Bain falling to them at No. 15 in the draft.
Biggs: Bears
Hammond: Bears
Thompson: Buccaneers
Week 10: Bye week
The Week 10 bye is ideally situated near the midpoint of the season.
Week 11: Saints at Bears
Sunday, Nov. 22, noon, Fox-32
The Bears beat the Saints 26-14 last season at Soldier Field, and the teams will meet again in Chicago in 2026. Last year's game was before the Saints made a switch at quarterback from Spencer Rattler to rookie Tyler Shough. For the Bears, that win snapped an eight-game losing streak against the Saints, which dated to 2011.
Biggs: Bears
Hammond: Bears
Thompson: Bears
Week 12: Bears at Lions
Thursday, Nov. 26, noon, CBS-2
The Lions host the Bears on Thanksgiving for 20th time and the first since Nov. 28, 2024, when Williams’ two-touchdown, fourth-quarter rally fell short in a 23-20 loss. Last season in Detroit, the Lions completely dismantled the Bears 52-21 in Week 2, Johnson's second game as coach and his first return trip to Ford Field since serving as Lions offensive coordinator. In fact, Johnson started 0-2 against his former team. Can he break this early skid?
Biggs: Lions
Hammond: Bears
Thompson: Lions
Week 13: Jaguars at Bears
Sunday, Dec. 6, noon, Fox-32
The Jaguars will have to brave the December cold in Chicago. The Bears and Jaguars last met in 2024 in London. The Jaguars haven’t visited Soldier Field since 2016. Both teams won their respective divisions a year ago and both feature two of the best up-and-coming offensive minds in football. Jaguars coach Liam Coen helped quarterback Trevor Lawrence put together the best year of his career last season.
Biggs: Bears
Hammond: Bears
Thompson: Bears
Week 14: Bears at Dolphins
Sunday, Dec. 13, noon, CBS-2
The Bears may not be playing this game in Madrid like a lot of schedule watchers speculated, but certainly there should be no complaints about playing in Miami Gardens, Fla., in December. The last time the Bears faced former Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, they made him eat his words to the Green Bay media - “see you guys next week” - with a 31-27 comeback win in the wild-card round. Now Hafley is a first-time NFL head coach in Miami.
Biggs: Bears
Hammond: Bears
Thompson: Bears
Week 15: Bears at Bills
Saturday, Dec. 19, 7:20 p.m., CBS-2
Last season, injuries robbed Williams of showdowns against two of the league's elite quarterbacks, Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals and Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens, but he gets another potential showcase here against Josh Allen. After the Super Bowl champion Seahawks, the Bills and their seven-year playoff streak represent the Bears’ biggest test. This will be the 15th meeting between the franchises, with the Bills blowing out the Bears 35-13 at Soldier Field on Dec., 24, 2022. However, the Bears rolled to a 41-9 win (versus Nathan Peterman, not Allen) in their last visit to Buffalo on Nov. 4, 2018.
Biggs: Bills
Hammond: Bills
Thompson: Bills
Week 16: Packers at Bears
Friday, Dec. 25, noon, Netflix
The NFL’s oldest rivalry will take center stage on Christmas Day. Soldier Field was the site of two epic Bears-Packers matchups a year ago - first the overtime walk-off touchdown to DJ Moore, then the 18-point playoff comeback. Will this year's version of the rivalry provide more fireworks? The Packers outplayed the Bears for most of those two meetings at Soldier Field, but they left Chicago on the losing end both times. They will be eager to rectify that.
Biggs: Packers
Hammond: Bears
Thompson: Bears
Week 17: Lions at Bears
Sunday, Jan. 3, 3:25 p.m., Fox-32
Despite winning the NFC North last year, the Bears went just 2-4 in division play and lost both matchups against the Lions. The Lions will be sure to continue giving Johnson their best shot. The Lions have won seven of the last eight meetings.
Biggs: Bears
Hammond: Lions
Thompson: Bears
Week 18: Bears at Vikings
Saturday, Jan. 9, or Sunday, Jan. 10, time and TV TBD
The big question is which quarterback will the Bears face: McCarthy or Murray? That competition will be settled in training camp. But by this point, could the “winner” have lost his job to the other? Both quarterbacks have had a checkered recent history - McCarthy struggled with injuries and performance last season, and the Arizona Cardinals released Murray in March after seven seasons. The last time Murray faced the Bears, he led the Cardinals to a 29-9 home victory on Nov. 3, 2024.
Biggs: Vikings
Hammond: Bears
Thompson: Bears
2026 season predictions
Brad Biggs: 9-8
A successful Bears team is a boon for television ratings, so it’s no surprise they were selected for five prime-time games as well as standalone contests on Thanksgiving and Christmas. All of that introduces different scheduling intricacies, and the result is six games on a short week. That’s two more than the team dealt with last season.
An eight-week stretch beginning with Week 5 in Green Bay projects to be challenging. The seven games -the bye is in Week 10 - include the AFC champion New England Patriots on a Thursday night at Soldier Field after a trip to Atlanta. The Bears have extra time to prepare for the next game, but it’s a Monday night at the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks and then they turn around on the short week and have the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Soldier Field on a Sunday night. That’s three straight prime-time games. After the bye, the New Orleans Saints visit before the Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit.
Ben Johnson surely will have a detailed plan to juggle the schedule and keep players fresh on short weeks. It’s a challenge the good teams that are coveted for prime-time games find ways to meet. It will be a fascinating season with Johnson in Year 2 and quarterback Caleb Williams in position to ascend.
Having nine home games - three straight from Weeks 2 to 4 - is a plus, and the Bears avoid a lot of long trips. They will have 10,676 air miles, third-fewest in the league. If the Bears can meet the tests - they have eight games against teams that reached the playoffs a year ago - they have a chance to have consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 2005-06.
Sean Hammond: 11-6
America had better be ready for the Bears, because football fans are getting the team whether they like it or not. It’s no surprise how many national TV games feature them, given how much of a ratings boon the Bears were late in the year last season. The challenging part for Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams will be replicating the successes of 2025.
Yes, the Bears have a tough schedule on paper as it stands in May. Drawing the Packers, Patriots, Seahawks and Bucs in a five-week span is a difficult stretch, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Bears go through a lull at that point. That said, things change quickly in the NFL, and injuries are unpredictable. That stretch might not look as tough come October.
The Lions-Bears matchup on Thanksgiving Day felt inevitable, given the Johnson connection. Marquee games against the Bills in prime time and Packers on Christmas Day will be more opportunities for Williams to showcase his game on the biggest stage.
The Bears’ luck in one-possession games probably won’t fall in their favor quite so dramatically as it did a year ago. But I’m not counting this team out against anybody.
Phil Thompson: 11-6
Much has been made about the Bears having the NFL’s toughest schedule, and with the likes of the Patriots, Eagles and Seahawks on tap - many of those matchups in prime time and on short weeks - it’s not bluster.
But the Bears aren’t the only team facing questions. Did the Patriots benefit from a soft schedule and catch some breaks (literally, with Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix’s fractured ankle) in the playoffs? Does Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell have a solution at QB or a quagmire? Did the Seahawks lose too many top players?
One thing can’t be denied: The “tough schedule” absolutely will show up on the field if the Bears show no improvement on defense. They will face five of last season’s top six offenses in points per game, including the Patriots, Seahawks, Bills, Lions and Jaguars.
Meanwhile, the Seahawks, Patriots and Eagles ranked among the five stingiest defenses in points allowed, with the Vikings and Jaguars not far behind.
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