Bear Digest

NFL 2025 schedule release: 4 must-know facts about the Chicago Bears’ Black Friday game in Philadelphia

Alan Goldsher

The Chicago Bears make their Black Friday debut against Philadelphia in November. Hopefully they can overcome a tryptophan hangover.
The Chicago Bears make their Black Friday debut against Philadelphia in November. Hopefully they can overcome a tryptophan hangover. / Denny Medley-Imagn Images
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We know who the Chicago Bears are playing in 2025.

We know where the Chicago Bears are playing in 2025.

We just don’t know when the Chicago Bears are playing in 2025.

Okay, that’s not entirely true. We know they host the Green Bay Packers on December 20, and we know that on November 28—the day after Thanksgiving, a.k.a., Black Friday—they’ll be decamped in the Keystone State, throwing down with the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.

Here are a quartet of fun tidbits about a nationally-televised clash that’ll be a measuring stick for the 2025 Bears.

Three Is the Magic Number

This is the third season the NFL has scheduled a Thanksgiving hangover game.

Black Friday Bowl 1 saw the Miami Dolphins beating the (cranberry) sauce out of the New York Jets, 34-13, then last season, Kansas City Chiefs made turkeys of the Las Vegas Raiders with a last-gasp field goal that earned them a 19-17 dub.

Bonus fun fact: This'll be the first post-Turkey-Day appearance by an NFC team.

Prime Time

Amazon Prime Video remains the home of the Black Friday Bowl, and Sports Media Watch tells us that the event is becoming a thing for the burgeoning streamer:

“In the second-annual Black Friday NFL game [in 2024], Raiders-Chiefs averaged 13.51 million viewers across Amazon Prime Video and local broadcast affiliates in the participation markets—up 41% from Dolphins-Jets [in 2023].

Apparently viewers are gobbling up the burgeoning NFL tradition. (Okay, that’s the last T-giving pun. We promise.)

Hurts So Good

Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts has faced the Bears just once in his career, that being a December 18, 2022 25-20 Iggles win at Soldier Field.

Hurts had himself a solid game, throwing for 315 yards and rushing in three touchdowns, which is still tied for his career high.

Hopefully Chicago’s revamped D-line will be ready to put the kibosh on Philly’s infamous Tush Push.

Days of the Week

This will be the first time in the history of the Chicago Bears franchise that they've has played on a Friday. For what it’s worth, the team has taken the field on 84 Mondays, ten Thursdays, and 46 Saturdays.

Hopefully their maiden Friday voyage will see their defense stuffing Jalen Hurts at the goal line.

Okay, that’s the last T-giving pun. We promise.

Published
Alan Goldsher
ALAN GOLDSHER

Alan Goldsher has written about sports for Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Apple, Playboy, NFL.com, and NBA.com, and he’s the creator of the Chicago Sports Stuff Substack. He’s the bestselling author of 15 books, and the founder/CEO of Gold Note Records. Alan lives in Chicago, where he writes, makes music, and consumes and creates way too much Bears content. You can visit him at http://www.AlanGoldsher.com and http://x.com/AlanGoldsher.

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