Breaking down the Bears’ 2026 schedule

One year after winning their first playoff game in 15 years, the Bears are big business.

The NFL made that clear Thursday night when they released a schedule that features the Bears hosting the Packers on Christmas Day, traveling to the Lions for Thanksgiving and tying a franchise record by playing five night games — including three in a row from Weeks 7-9. By contrast, last year’s team was assigned only three night games all season a year ago.

Everyone wanted in on the Bears. Each of the NFL’s broadcast partners — Fox, CBS, NBC, Amazon Prime Video and Netflix — will air at least one of their games.

With expectations comes a first-place schedule for the reigning NFC North champions — the Bears’ opponents in 2026 had a league-high .550 winning percentage last year.

The Bears’ schedule features eight playoff teams:

Week 1. Sept. 13 at Panthers, noon (Fox 32)

By now we know that Bears general manager Ryan Poles won the Caleb Williams trade — the only question is by how much. The Bears open the season against one of the many men he was dealt for, quarterback Bryce Young.

Week 2. Sept. 20 vs. Vikings, noon (Fox 32)

Just a year and a week after J.J. McCarthy made his NFL debut at Soldier Field, the Vikings figure to start a different quarterback, Kyler Murray. The Bears won’t see the Vikings again until the finale.

Week 3. Monday, Sept. 28 vs. Eagles, 7:15 p.m. (ABC 7/ESPN)

Bears coach Ben Johnson took his shirt off the last time the Bears beat the Eagles in prime time. We eagerly await the Wiener’s Circle offering more tubed-meat bribes for his shenanigans following the team’s first prime time game of the year.

Week 4. Oct. 4 vs. Jets, noon (Fox 32)

The NFL’s hardest schedule does include perhaps the worst team in the sport. The Jets will be Planning for (Archie) Manning — and playing Geno Smith, who last year threw three interceptions against the Bears.

Week 5. Oct. 11 at Packers, 3:25 p.m. (Fox 32)

The last time the Bears played the Packers, Johnson ended his playoff game-winning, postgame speech by saying: “F—the Packers. F—them. F—ing hate those guys.” Matt LaFleur took notice, of course. So did an approving George McCaskey.

Week 6. Oct. 18 at Falcons, noon (Fox 32)

The Ian Cunningham Bowl will pit Poles against his protégé, who was hired as the Falcons’ general manager this offseason but didn’t yield the compensatory draft picks Bears fans lusted for.

Week 7. Thursday, Oct. 22 vs. Patriots, 7:15 p.m. (Amazon Prime Video)

Williams and Patriots quarterback Drake Maye were drafted two spots apart and will forever be compared to each other. Maye enters the season with the upper hand, having won the AFC and finished second in MVP voting last year.

Week 8. Monday, Nov. 2 at Seahawks, 7:15 p.m. (ABC 7/ESPN)

The last time the Bears played a regular-season game in Seattle, Nick Foles beat Russell Wilson following a morning-after-Christmas snowstorm that briefly crippled transportation in the city. The Seahawks now boast Sam Darnold — and a Super Bowl ring.

Week 9. Nov. 8 vs. Buccaneers, 7:20 p.m. (NBC 5)

Four former Oklahoma players — including Williams, who spent his first year in Norman — will be starting quarterbacks in the NFL this season. Williams plays all three of the others this year, including the Bucs’ Baker Mayfield.

Week 10. BYE

Week 11. Nov. 22 vs. Saints, noon (Fox 32)

When the Bears beat the Saints at Soldier Field last year, it marked the first time they’d topped New Orleans since 2008, a span of eight losses. Williams posted a 61.7 passer rating in that game, his worst mark of the 2025 regular season.

Week 12. Thursday, Nov. 26 at Lions, noon (CBS 2)

The last time the Bears played at Ford Field on Thanksgiving, then-head coach Matt Eberflus botched his handling of the clock in a 2024 loss. He was fired upon returning home.

Week 13. Dec. 6 vs. Jaguars, noon (Fox 32)

Just the 10^th matchup ever between the two franchises will pit last year’s AP Coach of the Year runner-up, the Jaguars’ Liam Coen, against Johnson, who finished fourth. Patriots coach Mike Vrabel won the award.

Week 14. Dec. 13 at Dolphins, noon (CBS 2)

New Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley said in March that Williams drove him crazy while he was the Packers’ defensive coordinator. “When he had to make off-schedule plays and somehow pull it off, he did,” he said.

Week 15. Saturday, Dec. 19 at Bills, 7:20 p.m. (CBS 2)

As Bears president/CEO Kevin Warren was bemoaning the lack of construction cranes in downtown Chicago, the Bears traveled to Buffalo in August 2024 and saw the Bills building Highmark Stadium near their old park. It opens this year.

Week 16. Friday, Dec. 25 vs. Packers, noon (Netflix)

The Bears have played on Christmas three times, all against the Packers, and most recently in 2011, when Aaron Rodgers threw five touchdowns. They’re 1-1 all-time, with the win coming in 2005 behind a Lance Briggs pick-six.

Week 17. Jan. 3 vs. Lions, 3:25 p.m. (Fox 32)

Coming off of two-straight short weeks — a Saturday game followed by a Friday game — the Bears will be thrilled to have the extra time to prepare for what could be a playoff-deciding home against a Lions team that missed the postseason last year.

Week 18. at Vikings (date, time, TV all to be determined)

The last time the Bears finished the season in Minnesota, Matt Nagy was fired a day after losing to the Vikings. The date and time of the game will be determined a week ahead of time to prevent teams from manipulating playoff seeding.