The Chicago Bears play on both holidays this season, and both are against clubs from their own division. Thanksgiving afternoon is at Detroit. Christmas Day is at home against Green Bay, on Netflix, at one in the afternoon. Very few teams get either. Getting both, against the two nearest rivals, is a schedule with a sense of theatre.

The live panels above draw from the league feed, so scores, standings, the roster and statistical leaders refresh on their own. Written below is what stays fixed: those two holidays, the seventeen fixtures, the second year of a coaching project that worked immediately, and the rest of the odd dates.

Thanksgiving in Detroit, Christmas at Soldier Field

Week 12 sends Chicago to Ford Field on Thanksgiving, which carries an extra line for this particular staff. Ben Johnson spent his years before Chicago as Detroit’s offensive coordinator, so the holiday takes him back to the building he left.

Christmas Day is Green Bay at Soldier Field, a Friday afternoon carried by Netflix. The oldest rivalry in the league, on the one day of the year when almost nobody has anywhere else to be.

Between them sits the Saturday night trip to Buffalo on December 19, so Chicago plays on a Thursday, a Saturday and a Friday inside five weeks, plus the ordinary Sundays. December is not a restful month here.

Chicago Bears 2026 Games and Kickoff Times

All seventeen fixtures are below with Eastern kickoff times. Chicago runs on Central time, so take an hour off each figure for the clock at Soldier Field. Select an opponent to open that game.

Want the printable version? The full Chicago Bears schedule 2026 has a free PDF, wall calendar and kickoff times in every time zone.

Week 18 is the only line without a date. That is confirmed once Week 17 has been played, and flexible scheduling can move a Sunday afternoon game into a later window before then.

What Ben Johnson Did in Year One

Johnson arrived as the eighteenth full time head coach in club history and won the division in his first attempt. Chicago finished 11-6, took the NFC North, won a playoff game and then lost in overtime in the divisional round.

Caleb Williams had the season the club had been waiting for, throwing for 3,942 yards, a franchise record, with twenty seven touchdown passes against seven interceptions. He enters a third year in the league and a second under Johnson.

The staff shifted only where it had to. Press Taylor was promoted to offensive coordinator and Dennis Allen stays in charge of the defense, so the group that won the division is largely the group defending it.

Soldier Field and Nine Home Dates

Soldier Field holds around 61,500 for football, the smallest capacity in the league, on the lakefront just south of downtown Chicago. Nine of the seventeen games are played there this season, one more than most clubs are given.

Five of those seventeen are in prime time, in Weeks 3, 7, 8, 9 and 15, and there is no international fixture at all. The bye lands in Week 10, roughly at the midpoint, which splits the year cleanly into nine games and eight.

Both division rivals to the north and east are met twice, Green Bay in Weeks 5 and 16 and Detroit in Weeks 12 and 17. Live positions are on the NFL standings page, and the roster panel above follows the active 53 as the league lists it.

Chicago Bears FAQ

The Chicago Bears defend a division title with the coach who won it, the quarterback who broke the passing record and nine dates at Soldier Field. Thanksgiving takes them back to Detroit and Christmas brings Green Bay to the lakefront.

Last updated: September 9, 2026. Checked against chicagobears.com and nfl.com.