2024 NFL Schedule Release: 4 best Week 1 matchups for Chicago Bears

The 2024 NFL Schedule will be released within the next few days, and while we already know who the Chicago Bears will face in 2024, we will soon see exactly when these games will be played.

We all know how important it can be to start the season right. In 2023, the Bears wasted no time showing the league that they still did not have their franchise quarterback when they allowed the Green Bay Packers to walk all over them at Soldier Field. To many fans, the season was already over at that point.

The Bears can’t afford another season opener like that. While Week 1 results are never a death knell for a season, starting the season strong with a rookie quarterback facing a lot of pressure to be great will be important.

With that in mind, here are four games I think would be the best Week 1 matchup for Chicago.

Carolina Panthers – Home

How great would this be? The last two first overall picks, Bryce Young and Caleb Williams, squaring off in the season opener. Carolina won just two games last year and are not likely to be much better in 2024, so this should be a win for Chicago.

Washington Commanders – Away

It’s always an exciting game when quarterbacks taken first and second overall play each other in their rookie season. Like the Panthers, the Commanders were not a good team in 2023, losing thirteen games, one of which was a 40-20 shellacking at the hands of the Bears. That makes this another matchup that seems favorable to Chicago.

Some analysts believe that Jayden Daniels will be the best quarterback in the 2024 NFL draft and that Chicago should have selected him over Caleb Williams. This game would allow Williams to prove those people wrong right out of the gate.

Houston Texans – Away

Who would have ever thought that a fourth-and-20 Hail Mary in a meaningless Week 18 game would help not one but two franchises land their quarterbacks of the future? In a way, the careers of CJ Stroud and Caleb Williams will forever be linked because that win over the Colts in 2022 pushed the Texans out of the first overall draft slot. The Bears traded that pick to Carolina, which ultimately ended up with Williams as a Bear.

This would be a tough matchup for Chicago, but Wiliams would get to start his career facing the quarterback whose rookie records he will be trying to erase just one year after they were set.

Green Bay Packers – Home

This has to be included. It’s been nearly 2,000 days since the Bears beat Green Bay, and fans want that count to end as soon as possible. Why not Week 1? This matchup seems unlikely since it would be a repeat of last year’s season opener, but the Bears did face Green Bay in Week 1 of 2018 and 2019, so it’s been done before.

I’m sure that Williams, the rest of the organization, and the millions of Bears fans worldwide would love nothing more than to start the 2024 season with a win over the Packers at home on the back of a great game by Caleb Williams.