The Chicago Bears will be featured on plenty of national NFL broadcasts in 2026. The NFL believes in Ben Johnson, and they believe in Caleb Williams. We’ve always said how much the NFL loves the Chicago Bears and loves it when they are good. Unfortunately, it’s not something they’ve ever had the privilege of having consistently in the modern media landscape, at least not with a marketable quarterback.
That’s changed, and the Bears have seven standalone games in primetime and on alternate days.
Let’s
take a look at those games and rank them worst to best.
7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Home, Week 9, Sunday Night Football
All these games are very good, as the NFL isn’t going to put the Bears against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday Night Football, but of all the games, this is the least compelling. The Bucs fell apart at the end of last season, and Todd Bowles looks like he might be on his last legs as the team’s head coach. The Bucs strike me as a middle-of-the-road team this season, and this one isn’t going to get the hype machine from the NFL media.
6. Philadelphia Eagles at Home, Week 3, Monday Night Football
I think the top 5 get tricky to rank, but I am pretty confident that these two are the bottom of the seven. The Eagles will most likely be good, but they are another team that seems past their peak and will most likely trade AJ Brown, and if Jalen Hurts has another up-and-down season, the Eagles might be a team that only wins 8 or 9 games this season. The Bears, of course, were the team that derailed their season last year and exposed them for who they were.
5. Seattle Seahawks on the road, Week 8, Monday Night Football
You might all think I’m crazy for putting the defending Super Bowl champions this low in the rankings, but I’m a big fan of QB matchups, and Sam Darnold is a good QB, but he’s just not compelling to me. I love the idea of Ben Johnson’s offense against Mike Macdonald’s defense, and it’s a Coby Bryant revenge game if that gets you excited, but I think these other four games are just more interesting.
4. Detroit Lions on the road, Week 12, Thanksgiving
If this were last season, with Ben Johnson’s return to Detroit, it would be higher on the list, but we’ve done that one already. The Bears didn’t have a lot of success against the Lions last year, so this will be Ben Johnson’s opportunity to get his first win against his old club. This will be a great game to kick off a loaded holiday slate, but it falls just short of the top three.
3. Buffalo Bills on the road, Week 15, Saturday game
I considered long and hard to put this one at number two, but in the end, this one settles at number three for me. Josh Allen against Caleb Williams is awesome. With the game being in Buffalo in December in their new stadium, with a chance of snow, it could be cinematic on television. This is one everyone should circle because, by December, this could feature a battle of two top 5 quarterbacks in the league. Plus, it’s the DJ Moore revenge game.
2. New England Patriots at home, Week 7, Thursday Night Football
I think most fans would have this lower in the rankings, but this is a matchup I love, and no, it has nothing to do with Mike Vrabel’s current situation. One, the Bears will always be cosmically tied to the Patriots thanks to 46-10 in Super Bowl XX. But beyond that, to me, this is a battle of the first and second pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. I know they are in opposite conferences, so they won’t meet often, but I think the NFL would love the idea of Drake Maye and Caleb Williams both becoming top-five QBs coming out of the same draft, and being the big dogs of the league over the next decade. The first Maye vs Williams was a debacle; this one should be far more compelling.
1. Green Bay Packers at home, Week 16, Christmas Day
How can it not be? The NFL’s oldest (and best) rivalry kicks off the NFL’s trio of games on Christmas Day, and it will be the Bears’ first appearance on Netflix. I think some fans are going to be annoyed that the NFL is going to hijack some families’ Christmases, but Soldier Field will be littered with Santa suits and posters of the Packers getting coal, and it should be absolutely fantastic theater. The Bears are back. The rivalry is back, and the NFL is putting it out there for the world to watch.
