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With a 40-22 demolition of the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 59, the Philadelphia Eagles capped off a season in which they were dominant from the opening kickoff, which for Philly, took place in Brazil on the first opening Friday night game in league history. In 2025, as defending champions, the Eagles will open the season on Thursday night as they raise their second Super Bowl banner in franchise history. And now the question becomes, who will they open the season against?
In total, there are eight possible options: a trio of NFC East foes (Washington, Dallas and New York), the Los Angeles Rams, Las Vegas Raiders, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears. Any way you spin it, you can certainly make a case that there is intrigue no matter who Philly faces in Game 1 of 272. Even last place options such as New York — Saquon versus his former team — and Las Vegas — Pete Carroll’s Raiders debut — present intriguing storylines.
But ESPN’s Adam Schefter has another team in mind who he believes is the front runner for this opening night matchup.
When the NFL sits down to mull its options for the 2025 regular-season opener, the Bears at the Eagles will have a compelling case.
https://t.co/TL1EPjZy1c pic.twitter.com/Z9B2kwjYVo
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 12, 2025
“The Chicago Bears, in my mind, become the matchup to watch for that Thursday night opener. I can totally see it now,” Schefter said during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. “Ben Johnson’s first game in Philadelphia. The Bears looking to make the comeback… It’s a compelling enough matchup that everybody would be excited to see it. My guess right now is Bears at Eagles in the opener.”
There are definitely a lot of angles in play here, aside from the those that Schefter mentioned. Caleb Williams enters year two of his NFL career with tons of promise, despite the fact that a rookie year that started 4-2 eventually gave way to 11 consecutive losses and the firings of both offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and head coach Matt Eberflus. Additionally, an Eagles front four that manhandled the Kansas City Chiefs offensive line in the Super Bowl would be a huge test for what should be an overhauled offensive line for the Bears.
Then there’s the Saquon Barkley factor. Earlier in January, Barkley noted that he was ‘pretty damn close’ to signing with the Chicago Bears in the offseason, which was a kick in the stomach to Bears fans who watched all season long as this team was rarely able to get anything going on the ground. That has just as much to do with play-calling and poor offensive line play as it does Barkley being multiple tiers above D’Andre Swift.
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