Bears fans will avoid having to see Aaron Rodgers thump their team again this season, but he’ll still be on their screens.
In addition to announcing its upcoming international games Wednesday, the NFL released a few other matchups. One of those was the debut of a Black Friday game, which will feature Rodgers’ Jets hosting the Dolphins on Prime Video. Amazon will make the game available for free to those who don’t have a Prime membership.
It will be the first NFL game played on a Friday since a Christmas matchup between the Saints and Vikings in 2020.
Rodgers’ 15-year run of dominating the Bears ended when the Packers traded him for draft picks last month. The Bears don’t face the Jets this season. Instead, they’ll get their first showdown with his successor, Jordan Love.
The first showdown between Justin Fields and Love is expected to be Week 1 at Soldier Field in the late-afternoon window, an industry source said.
The league released details for its three games in London and two in Germany, with the Bears being spared an international excursion, as well as a rematch of the AFC championship game between the Chiefs and Bengals on New Year’s Eve and a Christmas Day game between the Eagles and Giants.
The full schedule comes out Thursday — with some new twists.
Sunday afternoon matchups are no longer slotted for a particular network as they had been with the NFC typically airing on FOX and the AFC on CBS. Teams also can appear on Thursday night twice, and no team is guaranteed of playing a prime-time game.
The Bears’ only night games last season were a Sunday night against the Packers, a Thursday against the Commanders and a Monday night against the Patriots.
Steve Greenberg contributed to this story.
