While Minnesota Vikings fans are still waiting to see when their favorite team will be playing next season, the NFL revealed not one, but two nationally televised games featuring the Chicago Bears from the 2025 schedule on Monday.
First, an announcement from FOX revealed that the Bears will be hosting the Green Bay Packers as part of a Week 16 doubleheader on Saturday, December 20th, that also includes the Philadelphia Eagles heading out on the road to take on the Washington Commanders.
Then, a few hours later, the NFL announced that this year's Black Friday game on Prime Video has Chicago facing the Eagles inside Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field on November 28th.
NFL giving more attention to the Chicago Bears than the Minnesota Vikings
With Monday's schedule news, it's clear that the league is banking on the Bears being much better next season than the team that only won five games in 2024.
On paper, Chicago has plenty of talent with guys like Caleb Williams, D.J. Moore, and Jaylen Johnson. But we all know it takes a lot more than just talent to put together a successful team in the NFL.
With the way the league is acting with its schedule so far, they are definitely expecting Ben Johnson to completely turn things around for the Bears in his first year as the team's head coach. But Johnson has never been a head coach in the NFL before, so getting Chicago back on track is certainly far from a guarantee.
Not every first-year head coach can be like Kevin O'Connell when he led the Vikings to a 13-4 record in his first season with the franchise back in 2022.
Featuring a team like the Bears on national television in 2025 might seem like the league is disrespecting Minnesota. But the Vikings should be happy that the NFL has decided to increase the pressure for Chicago to play at a much higher level next season, especially after how bad they were last year.