Bears increasingly unlikely to play internationally this season as NFL has yet to reach out about it

PHOENIX — It’s unlikely the Bears will be selected to play in an international game this season, because while the NFL hasn’t announced all the matchups, it hasn’t approached them about it.

"Typically the league will feel you out on a particular destination [by now], and we haven't heard anything,” owner George McCaskey said Wednesday at the end of the NFL annual meeting.

The Bears already are assured of playing all their home games at Soldier Field, but could have been selected as the road team against the Lions in Munich or the Falcons in Madrid. The league typically avoids playing divisional games overseas, although it is doing so with a Rams home game against the 49ers in Melbourne this season, and some teams request their home game against the Bears to be excluded because the fan base travels so heavily, which is good for the local economy.

The Bears last played a home game in London against the Jaguars in 2024 and went there as the road team against the Raiders in 2019.