The Bears will open the 2025 season in the national spotlight, hosting the Vikings a week from today at Soldier Field on Monday Night Football.
"Any time you can play prime time, that's what you play this game for," said linebacker Tremaine Edmunds. "You want the whole world to see all the hard work you put into it, individually and as a team. We've been working hard to display our talents, and what other way would you want to have it?"
The Bears will open a season on Monday Night Football for the fourth time. They beat the defending Super Bowl champions in 1987 (Giants) and 1996 (Cowboys) at Soldier Field before losing to the Packers in Green Bay in 1997.
The Bears will look to improve their record to 3-1 in MNF openers in what will be Ben Johnson's NFL head-coaching debut.
"I feel like we had a really good camp working hard and making progress," said center Drew Dalman, who signed with the Bears in March. "So I think we have a lot of confidence and a lot of momentum going into the season. Looking forward to it. I think it'll be a great environment."
Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy will make his NFL regular-season debut in the opener. Selected by Minnesota with the 10th pick in the first round of the 2024 draft, he sat out his entire rookie year with a knee injury that required surgery.
McCarthy saw limited action in the preseason, completing 4 of 7 passes for 30 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions and a 67.6 passer rating.
"It's always kind of hard going against a new quarterback because there's not a lot of film out there," Edmunds said. "Going against new quarterbacks, you're going to come across new things, so you have to trust your technique, trust your fundamentals and trust what you are as a defense scheme-wise."
Edmunds understands the importance of making an inexperienced quarterback uncomfortable in the pocket, but the Bears linebacker believes that "you've just got to make sure that you're focusing on yourself."
"At the end of the day, it comes back to, 'What are we doing well as a defense? What are we doing well as a team?' Areas that we know we want to get better with," he said. "It's not more so focusing on him; it's more so focusing on us and making sure that we execute and [are] doing the things that we know how to do."
