The Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings will be the final matchup for the NFL’s opening week of the 2025 season, and on paper, this should be an exciting matchup. We get Bears head coach and offensive play caller Ben Johnson matching wits against Minnesota defensive coordinator Brian Flores, and Chicago defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, trying to slow down the Vikings’ offense led by play caller and head coach Kevin O’Connell.
Did you know that while offensive coordinator of the Lions, Johnson went
4-0 against Flores, averaging more than 30 points per game. Obviously, the Bears in year one of the offense are in a different place than Detroit was the last two years, but Flores is still wary of what Johnson is capable of as a play caller.
“What doesn’t make (facing his offenses) tough?” Flores said via Newsweek on Thursday. “It’s the run game. It’s the pass game. It’s the play-action game. It’s the screen game. Gun runs. Under runs. Under play-action. Gun play-action. Third down. Red zone. He does a good job of putting it all together.”
Did you also know that Flores, shortly after being hired as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins in 2019, let Johnson go, who had been the Dolphins’ wide receivers coach.
GAME INFO
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. CT on Monday, September 9, from Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. There’s no rain in the forecast with a high of 70° and a low of 57°, making this perfect football weather.
TELEVISION
The game will air on ESPN with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on the call, and Lisa Salters and Laura Rutledge on the sidelines.
RADIO
ESPN Chicago (1000 AM, 100.3 FM HD2) with Jeff Joniak, Tom Thayer, and Jason McKie on the call, and LATINO MIX 93.5 FM (Spanish) with Omar Ramos.
The Bears game can also be heard on SiriusXM.
GAME PREVIEWS
Our team has a bunch of Bears vs. Vikings previews that you can find in this week’s story stream here.
You can also listen to Taylor Doll’s Bears-Vikings Making Monsters preview show on our 2nd City Gridiron channels, featuring her interview with Pat The Designer of Windy City Breeze and ESPN, to preview the Bears, and Tyler Forness 1st and Skol to preview the Vikings.
PODCAST PREVIEW
VIDEO PREVIEW
Our entire 2nd City Gridiron Podcast library can be found here:
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ODDS
The last time I checked the odds from our partners at FanDuel, the oddsmakers had this as a close game with the Bears a 1.5-point home underdog to the Vikings. The game’s point total over/under was 43.5.
POSTGAME
This season, we have a brand new postgame show, so tune into our 2nd City Gridiron YouTube channel shortly after each Bears game for Wrap It Up with Jacob Infante! We’ll push it to our podcast channel as soon as possible after Jacob ends his live show.
Our day-after Bears game recap show is back for another season, so tune in for Bear & Balanced normally on the day after they play at 6:00 p.m. CT. This week, Jeff Berckes and Lester Wiltfong will be on Tuesday for their cooled-down review on 2nd City Gridiron. Once they press stop on the show, you can catch the audio on our podcast channel.
Plus, we’ll have several articles here at WCG breaking down the game that you can find in our Chicago vs. Minnesota story stream.
Our 2nd City Gridiron Podcast Channel is available on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, Audacy, and other popular podcast platforms, so hit subscribe wherever you get your audio. Our YouTube home is also called 2nd City Gridiron, so subscribe there for our pods and other video content.
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