Bears-Packers Week 16 matchup flexed to Saturday night

The Bears’ matchup against the Packers in Week 16 of the 2025 NFL season has been flexed from Saturday afternoon to Saturday night, the league announced on Tuesday. Rather than the original time slot of 3:25 pm CST, the game will now kick off at 7:20 pm CST on Saturday, Dec. 20 at Soldier Field.

For games in the stretch of Weeks 14 through 17, a six days’ notice is required for a game to be flexed into a different time slot. Obviously, the Bears’ Week 16 matchup has been flexed with more than enough time before the minimum requirement.

The matchup figures to be a key battle in the NFC North divisional race. Chicago currently holds the first-place spot in the division with a 9-3 record, though the Packers aren’t far behind with an 8-3-1 record. The two teams also square off in Week 14 of the season at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

Since 1921, the Bears-Packers rivalry has been one of the most highly-contested rivalries in not just the NFL, but arguably in all of American sports. The Packers hold the 108-96-6 all-time record in the rivalry, having won nine of the 10 games the two teams have played in the 2020s. That said, the Bears won the last matchup in the series off of a last-second field goal on the road in the last game of the 2024 season.