Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears will capture the attention of much of the country when they play again.
The NFL on Tuesday shifted the Week 8 schedule, moving the Bears’ Oct. 27 road game against the Washington Commanders from a noon kickoff to a 3:25 p.m. start. It will be the marquee late afternoon game for CBS, which will have its No. 1 crew of Jim Nantz, Tony Romo and Tracy Wolfson on the call.
Williams, who was raised in Washington, is returning home for a game that already was going to draw considerable attention with the top two picks in the 2024 draft in Williams and Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels.
The league did not choose to flex the game into prime time, opting to keep the previously scheduled Sunday night game between the Dallas Cowboys (3-3) and San Francisco 49ers (3-3). To accommodate the Bears-Commanders switch, the Philadelphia Eagles-Cincinnati Bengals game was moved to noon.
While the Bears are idle this week, the Commanders (4-2) host the Carolina Panthers (1-5) on Sunday.
Williams and Daniels have been two of the most exciting rookies. The Bears (4-2) will ride a three-game winning streak into the game, and the Commanders have been revitalized with new ownership, a new front office and coaching staff — and Daniels, who is fourth in the league with a 107.1 passer rating and leads the NFL’s No. 2 scoring offense.
The Bears played on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” in Week 2 in Houston and aren’t scheduled to be in prime time again until Week 15 on Monday, Dec. 16, at Minnesota on ABC. They host the Seattle Seahawks in Week 17 on Thursday, Dec. 26, on Amazon Prime Video.
A date and time for the Week 18 game in Green Bay are to be determined.
The Bears also will play in a standalone national television slot in Week 13 on Thanksgiving in Detroit and are scheduled to play at San Francisco the next week at 3:25 p.m. Dec. 8.