Why the Bears should be in the opening game
Mike Florio and Chris Simms discuss who should open the 2026-27 NFL season with the Seattle Seahawks, and they lay out why the Chicago Bears are a good choice.
Video Transcript
Oh, guess what?
Yeah.
The Today Show will be unveiling- Ooh the opener.
I assume that's the Seahawks Wednesday night- Yeah September 9 opener.
I would think so too.
So- Okay my money's on the Bears.
You think it's Yeah, the Bears make sense.
Bears or Giants, I think that's the two that we kind of lo- talked about about a month ago, right?
'Cause the Giants could go up there this year.
Yeah, but- Yeah, I know.
It's not, the Giants is not as good as the Bears, but I, I just don't wanna see the Patriots, I know that.
No, we don't want to see- And there was another- a boring match right out of the gates matchup that I know I wasn't Oh, maybe Kansas City.
Geez, we don't want the Chiefs.
I don't wanna Yeah, let's let Mahomes get healthy and good before he goes up and, you know, takes on the Legion, Legion of Doom Part 2.
So yeah, I, I, I hear where you're at.
I, I would bet- Although Kenneth Walker told me last week he'd like to be there- Well, I'm sure for the opener.
I'm sure.
But I, I think I would like to see Bears.
Bears, you know, are the team that you feel like is got a chance to be next, right?
There's those pool of teams every year where it's like, wait, yeah, they're, they didn't get to the Super Bowl last year, but they're close, and ooh, the coaching, the talent, the quarterback, the expectations, everything there.
I think that would be a cool opener, to see Caleb Williams up on the road against Sam Darnold and the Seahawks- And- dealing with Mike McDonald I'm always interested to see how the NFL will choose to program those captive audience big games.
Yeah.
Because you could put, for example, Thanksgiving, the game at Dallas, you could put any team there, and it's gonna get a significant audience.
Mm-hmm.
You could put the Chiefs, like last year, you're gonna get- Yeah the biggest audience- Right in regular season history.
Yeah.
So for this game right out of the gates on a Wednesday night, if it's the Bears, it's gonna do a larger number than if it's, you know, other teams.
Yeah.
Agreed.
And I think back to, I think it was 2020, the year of the pandemic, after the Chiefs won their first Super Bowl, the opener was Texans at Chiefs, which was kind of eh.
Yeah.
Like, there was nothing The Texans weren't one of the short list- No contenders.
There was no- Paner in the butt playoff-ish team, but that was it.
They, they had played in the postseason the year before, but- Yeah there wasn't this vibe that you, boy, you really gotta see this game.
The Bears are the one where they're a rising team, Caleb Williams doing magical things.
Without a doubt.
Expectation they're gonna be better this year.
I think the Bears, once we look through all the options, and look, there are several good options, and I'm with you, I'm not interested in seeing the Patriots and the Seahawks play again- No right after we saw one of the most boring '70s-esque Super Bowls of all time, where if they had played 10 out of 10 times, the Patriots would have won none of them.
That's the difference between those two teams as of last year.
But I think, I think Holly May mentioned this on Friday, and I don't know that the NFL is gonna revel in the storyline, but the Patriots do have- A great story a storyline now- Yeah, but I don't know if they really want that out that may not be one that you wanna put a spotlight on- Oh, yeah to start your season.
Well, I'd love to see you have to deal with it right away.
We, you know, "Hey, I'm up in Seattle.
I don't like being away from my family.
They were there yesterday, but, but I'm up here."
Well, my wife's going to s- She's already told me she's going to Seattle.
She'll go She's going to Seattle.
Yeah.
Okay.
So she'll You'll be good.
You'll be ready to go.
You'll let it fly.
"Hey, this Mike Vrabel and Diane Rossini crap- Wow let me just go through the timeline of all the things that happened."
You know, and the- I can see it the reality is that's so long from now, and I'd like to think it's all gonna die down, and it has died down over the past few days.
We've had a few days, yeah.
But there's this weird you never quite know- No, it feels that way what's gonna come next.
