The Chicago Bears won't be kicking off the 2026 NFL season against the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, despite rampant speculation among fans and analysts. According to NFL insider Jordan Schultz, the Seahawks will instead face the New England Patriots in a Super Bowl rematch on Wednesday, Sept. 9, at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC.

For weeks, a Bears-Seahawks Week 1 matchup seemed like a natural storyline. The Seahawks are fresh off a championship run, while the Bears were one of the most electrifying teams in the league last season. Chicago pulled off a worst-to-first turnaround, winning the NFC North and delivering some of the most thrilling fourth-quarter comebacks in recent memory. Fans were buzzing about the potential showdown between these two rising powerhouses.

There were plenty of dramatic subplots to fuel the hype. New Bears safety Coby Bryant would have faced his former Seahawks team after choosing Chicago over a reported offer from Seattle to bring him back. And then there's the Caleb Williams factor—the third-year quarterback has been a human highlight reel, and a clash with Seattle's dominant defense would have been must-see TV.

The NFL Kickoff Game typically lands on Thursday night, but this year the league is shaking things up. With an international matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers scheduled for Thursday in Australia, the NFL is starting the season a day earlier and treating fans to four thrilling days of football to open the 2026 campaign.

We still don't know who the Bears will face in Week 1—the full 2026 schedule drops Thursday night. Stay tuned to our Bears schedule release tracker for all the latest updates as they happen.