What to know about the Bears’ 2025 schedule

The Bears created a lot of buzz this offseason for a team that finished 5-12 last year.

General manager Ryan Poles started the turnaround from a disastrous season in January when he hired Ben Johnson to be his next head coach. The excitement grew over the next few months as Poles traded, signed and drafted playmakers on both sides of the ball at positions of need.

Although there’s still minicamp and training camp ahead in the coming months, Bears fans are eager to know when they’ll get a chance to watch their new-look team play this fall. While the Bears schedule isn’t out yet, there are some details we do know already.

Here’s what we know about the Bears 2025 schedule.

When will the schedule be announced?

The NFL announced at this year’s draft that the schedules for every team will be revealed during a show at 7 p.m. on May 14. The show will be televised on NFL Network and streamed on NFL+.

Apart from the show, many teams have announced their own schedules by doing creative videos over the past few years. In 2023, the Titans made a viral video where they asked random people on the streets of Nashville to identify NFL logos with hilarious results. The Chargers released a two-minute-long anime video in 2022 (which was so popular they did it again in 2023).

The Bears revealed their 2024 schedule last year with a spoof of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” the hit 1986 movie starring Matthew Broderick.

Who and where will the Bears play?

The Bears’ opponents and locations have already been set based on the NFL’s schedule formula.

They’ll play home and away games against their NFC North division rivals and play all four teams in the NFC East and AFC North. The Bears are also set to compete against three opponents who finished in the same place in the standings as they did in the NFC South and West and AFC West.

Like every NFC team this season, the Bears will have eight home games and nine road games.

Here’s a look at their 2025 opponents:

Will the Bears travel abroad again?

It doesn’t appear like the Bears will play in another international game this season after playing the Jaguars in London last year.

The NFL designated seven teams to play in five countries this season. The Jaguars, Browns and Jets will host games in London, the Chargers will play in Sao Paulo, the Colts will travel to Berlin, the Dolphins will play in Madrid and the Steelers will host in Dublin. The Bears are scheduled to play the Browns and Steelers but those will be home games at Soldier Field.

Despite not playing internationally this year, the Bears could be back in the mix in 2026 as the NFL increases the number of games it plays abroad each year. The Bears and the Dolphins are the two teams with assigned marketing rights in Spain. The Dolphins will play the NFL’s first game in Spain this season, which opens an opportunity for the Bears next year.

Chicago also has assigned marketing rights in the United Kingdom. The Bears have played in London during the regular season in 2011, 2019 and 2024. Each NFL team is required to play in an international game at least once every eight years.

How difficult will the Bears’ schedule be?

Despite having a last-place schedule, the Bears could have one of the toughest slates this fall based on 2024 regular season records.

Bears’ opponents finished with a 165-124 record last season, tied for the second toughest in the league with the Lions. The Giants’ 2025 opponents had the best record last year.

Those records should be taken with a grain of salt as a lot can change in a year. Last year’s success doesn’t mean a team will be good again this season.

The Bears will play seven teams that made the playoffs last season — the Ravens, Steelers, Eagles, Commanders, Lions, Vikings and Packers. Five of those teams have made the playoffs for at least two straight seasons.

The Eagles won the Super Bowl while the Commanders played in the NFC Championship game last year.