The Chicago Bears won the NFC North division in 2025, and they’ve been rewarded with a daunting schedule against plenty of challenging teams.
In fact, the Bears will play eight games against playoff teams from a year ago, including five against teams who won their divisions last year and both of the Super Bowl teams who battled it out in Santa Clara earlier this month.
Fortunately, the Bears do have an extra home game on their schedule next season, but even that may be in question as the team could play an overseas game in 2026.
Here’s what to know about the schedule.
Home Opponents
With the NFL’s 17-game schedule, teams get an extra home game each season, and the Bears will get that in the 2026 campaign.
Along with their games against the Packers, Lions and Vikings, the Bears will also face a trio of division champions at Soldier Field next season.
That list includes the New England Patriots, who won the AFC East and were the conference’s representative in the Super Bowl.
The Bears will also welcome the AFC South-champion Jacksonville Jaguars to Soldier Field, as well as the NFC East-winning Philadelphia Eagles.
The Bears do have a couple of games against teams that struggled in 2025, with the New Orleans Saints and New York Jets coming to Soldier Field. The Bears will also face Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to round out their home slate.
What’s unclear is whether the Bears will play all nine of those games at Soldier Field. The Bears are one of the teams with international marketing rights in Spain, and the NFL plans to play a game at the Bernabéu Stadium, home to Real Madrid, during the 2026 season.
That could mean the Bears would head overseas for the second time in three years as the league drastically expands its international slate.
Road Opponents
The Bears’ road schedule is also plenty tough, featuring a matchup against the NFC South-winning Carolina Panthers as part of that mix.
More notably, the team will also head to Seattle to take on the Super Bowl champion Seahawks in one of the NFL’s most hostile environments.
The Bears will also make a bit of team history as they’ll face the Buffalo Bills in the opening season of that team’s new stadium.
Road trips to Miami to face the Dolphins and Atlanta to face the Falcons are also on the docket for the Bears in 2026, along with their traditional NFC North matchups against the Packers, Lions and Vikings.
When will the schedule be released?
The 2026 NFL schedule has not been released yet, and typically that date will occur after the NFL Draft, which takes place in late April.
With the Bears playing nine home games, they will also have one preseason game, and that date will also be announced when the league reveals its full slate.
