We wrote earlier on Wednesday morning that the signs were pointing to the Chicago Bears playing the Minnesota Vikings during Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season, and there are more signs that continue to point in that direction.
While not official, an NFL schedule leak aggregator noted on X that the Bears will be hosting the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football to open the 2025 season.
There are reasons to believe this report is true. The first being that the NFC North is set to play the NFC East this season. Through other reports, we know that the Dallas Cowboys will be playing the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday of Week 1. We also know that the Green Bay Packers will be playing the Detroit Lions in the national slot on Sunday afternoon. Given that logic, it would make sense that the Bears are playing the Vikings to open the season.
Ben Johnson's Bears' debut will be in the national spotlight
As of now, we know that the Bears will have at least three primetime games during the 2025 season. Assuming the leak of the Monday Night Football game is true, the Bears will also play the Black Friday game on Prime against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Bears also play in FOX's doubleheader on December 20 when they play the Green Bay Packers.
The NFL is clearly operating with the assumption that the Bears are headed in the right direction with Johnson as their head coach. In an interesting turn of events, if the leak is true, Week 1 will be a battle between candidates for the Bears' head coaching vacancy this offseason. While Johnson landed the job, Vikings' defensive coordinator Brian Flores was also a strong candidate for the position.
While we're on the subject, Johnson's offenses have dominated Flores' defenses in recent games. Over the last four games, the Lions are averaging 30.5 points per game against the Vikings' defense under Flores.