Soldier Field Turf Looks Awful Ahead of 'Monday Night Football'

An awful look for the venue for Week 1 of the NFL season.
The turf at Solider Field looked awful before the Chicago Bears hosted the Minnesota Vikings in Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season.
The turf at Solider Field looked awful before the Chicago Bears hosted the Minnesota Vikings in Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season. / Via @Chris_Hawkey on X

The Chicago Bears open a new era for their franchise Monday night and if the condition of their playing surface is any indication, things may not go so well.

Chicago is hosting the Minnesota Vikings on Monday in Ben Johnson's first game as the team's head coach. Pregame shots of the turf at Soldier Field look awful and that's not surprising given what has happened at the stadium this week.

Here's video of the grounds crew working on the field hours before kickoff.

That's an awful look for Week 1 of the NFL season, especially for a nationally televised game.

Week 1 is when a team's turf should look its best all season, but there's a reason the field is so torn up. Over five days from August 28 through September 1, Soldier Field hosted five massive concerts. It started with Oasis, then My Chemical Romance, The Lumineers, and two System of a Down shows followed.

It's clear that in the week since the last concert, not enough has been done to shore up the field. That's awful planning by the venue.

The Bears are currently working to reach an agreement on a new stadium in Arlington Heights, as Soldier Field continues to age. Scenes like this aren't helping the perception that the stadium is a viable place for the franchise to play.


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Ryan Phillips
RYAN PHILLIPS

Ryan Phillips is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in digital media since 2009, spending eight years at The Big Lead before joining SI in 2024. Phillips also co-hosts The Assembly Call Podcast about Indiana Hoosiers basketball and previously worked at Bleacher Report. He is a proud San Diego native and a graduate of Indiana University’s journalism program.