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Why All Trends Point to Bears Playing in the NFL Season Opener

Caleb Williams and the cardiac Bears seem like an ideal opponent for Seattle in the league's first game on a Wednesday night, for numerous reasons.
Gene Chamberlain|
Caleb William against Seattle to start the 2026 season only seems like a natural, even if a Wednesday night game isn't natural.
Caleb William against Seattle to start the 2026 season only seems like a natural, even if a Wednesday night game isn't natural. | Talia Sprague-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Anticipation should be building for the Bears to do something they haven't done since 1940.

That would be playing in an NFL game on a Wednesday.

They appear one of the odds-on favorites to be in the NFL season lid-lifting game at Seattle, which will be on a Wednesday night. The Bears in 1940 played a September 25, Wednesday game against the Chicago Cardinals and it was their last time playing on that day of the week,

As defending champion, Seattle gets the home game to start the NFL  season.

The traditional opener is a Wednesday night instead of Thursday like usual because the 49ers and Rams are already scheduled to open their seasons in Australia on Thursday, and that is the second game of the season. This much is known because the league already announced some international pairings and San Francisco against the Rams was one of them.

The Bears playing the opener in the spotlight of a national TV game only seems like a natural and also a logical situation for several reasons.

1. Seahawks home opponents

The logical Seattle opponents in a season opener would be the Rams or 49ers, as both are divisional foes who played tight battles against the Seahawks. In the past, the NFL often tried to pit top divisional or conference opponents. But those two NFC West teams open in that Australian game against each other.

The Giants and Cardinals are on the home  opponents list for Seattle but because those are rebuilding teams, it's safe to scratch them. The national spotlight needs to be a better matchup than champion vs. also ran.

This leaves Dallas, Kansas City, the Chargers, Patriots and Bears as possible opening opponents.

2. Scratch the Patriots

The two Super Bowl teams meeting again in the opener? We just saw that in February. Beyond that, history says it won't happen. In the 24 years since the start of the showcase opening-night game, the defending champion started the season by hosting the team they beat in the previous Super Bowl only once, in 2016 when champion Denver opened against the Carolina Panthers.

It's not very common for the two teams to be on each other's schedule the next year, but they have been and the league hasn't put them in the opener except that one season.

Since the showcase game started, two defending champions hosted the Super Bowl loser on their schedule the next season and the only one to do it in the opener was that Broncos team in 2016.

So, even though New England is on the schedule for the Seahawks in Seattle this year, don't anticipate they'll be the opening night opponent.

3. Intraconference

The Chargers and Chiefs are a potential opponents but the league most often pits intraconference opponents in this game.

They schedule interconference opponents almost as often as they schedule the previous Super Bowl opponents to be in the showcase game. It's most often been an intraconference game that isn't intradivisional. This happened 13 times. They've had interconference games only four times since 2004.  

4. Patrick Mahomes ACL

Because the Chiefs QB is recovering from knee surgery, there could be a reluctance to get him into the opening game. The Chiefs did have four of the top five regular-season television audiences last year, but this was the Mahomes and Taylor Swift effect. The Chiefs are no longer that team.

There's always the chance that Mahomes hasn't recovered in time yet by the start of September. NBC would like the assurance Mahomes is playing and that really can't be known as schedules are being put together for release in May.

Besides, the Chiefs were bad last year and the Swift/Kelce thing will no longer be a fascination once they tie the knot this offseason.

5. The true America's team

This leaves Dallas or the Bears and who is the true American's team now? Last year's miracle comeback victories thrust the Bears into the national consciousness again. The average o 45.4 million viewers watching the dramatic playoff loss to the Rams, with a peak of 52.6 million, was the most viewers NBC ever had for a divisional playoff game.

The 49ers-Seahawks game only drew 32 million by comparison.

The Bears' wild-card playoff win over Green Bay have been the first streaming game (Prime) to ever go over 30 million.


Dallas was America's team, as in past-tense. The Bears are the hot team for national attention after a season when they played so many dramatic, tight games and had so many viewers.

They are the team with a quarterback who makes the miracles.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

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