The Chicago Bears are 7-3 and sitting atop the NFC North for the first time in a while. The Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions are both behind Chicago in the standings, as the new-look Bears have a chance to continue to stave off the competition.
Their first test as the top seed in the NFC North is a matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 12. But in Week 14, the Bears travel to Green Bay to face the Packers in what could be a huge matchup for the NFC North lead.
With the nature of the matchup changing a lot from the beginning of the season, the NFL has made a scheduling decision to flex the Bears and Packers Week 14 matchup into the 3:25 CT time slot. This decision from the NFL shows how much they believe in this matchup, as they are flexing out what would normally be a great matchup.
Bears-Packers Week 14 matchup flexed from 12:00 CT to 3:25 CT
Brian McCarthy of the NFL League Office shared the press release of the Bears-Packers Week 14 game getting flexed into a bigger window.
Originally, in this time slot was the Buffalo Bills hosting the Cincinnati Bengals. Josh Allen against Joe Burrow was, at the start of the season, a quality matchup for the NFL.
But after Burrow's injury, the Bengals fell to 3-7. Even with Burrow trending towards a return soon, the Bengals and Bills Week 14 matchup is getting flexed out of the Sunday afternoon slot.
Instead, the Bears and Packers will face off at 3:25 CT in what's shaping up to be one of the most important matchups of the season for both teams.
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Fox Sports and the NFL are choosing Jordan Love and Caleb Williams over the Josh Allen and Joe Burrow matchup. It's a sign of the changing times, as the Bears and Packers are the premier matchup this week, and the NFL is flexing them into a more prominent time slot.
The 7-3 Bears will face the Steelers in Week 12, then the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 13 before this matchup. The 6-3-1 Packers, meanwhile, have matchups against the Minnesota Vikings and the Lions on tap.
Depending on how these next two weeks go, that Week 14 matchup could determine if one or the other takes control of the NFC North.
It's an interesting matchup in Week 14, and an equally interesting decision from the NFL to flex this game over the Bills and Bengals matchup.
The NFL and Fox Sports view the Bears-Packers matchup as more premier than Joe Burrow and the Bengals against Josh Allen and the Bills.
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