Report: Bucs Play At Bears On “Sunday Night Football” Nov. 8
May 14th, 2026
Bucs will play under the lights in Chicago.
Well, we know when one game is.
“This Joe” hoped upon hope the Bucs would open the season in Chicago, since it appears Bruno Mars is forcing the Bucs to open on the road.
The Bears are one of the Bucs’ road opponents and knowing the miserable Chicago weather — as the late humorist Lewis Grizzard once typed, “Chicago has two seasons: Winter and the Fourth of July,” opening the season in Chicago would be dodging a bullet.
But it appears the Bucs got a crummy deal. Joe once served seven years working in that town — hated it. Hated the climate. It seemingly never got warm. The traffic? Cops regularly pulled you over on fishing expeditions and the parochial nature of the locals added to the, um, charm.
A former co-worker there told Joe that annually, around Halloween, Chicago has some of the worst weather of the calendar. And guess when the Bucs play in Chicago this fall?
A week after Halloween.
Per Aileen Hnatiuk of WFLA-TV Channel 8, the Bucs will face the Bears Nov. 8 on Sunday Night Football, seen on NBC.
Given the expected rotten weather and Todd Bowles’ sterling record in primetime games, Joe is already dreading the trip to the Second City.
Joe vividly remembers the night the Bears retired both Dick Butkus and Gayle Sayers’ jerseys. It was Monday Night Football, Oct. 31, 1994, against the Packers. It looked like the game was held in a tropical storm. Complete downpour. Wind was ridiculous.
The only way to tell it wasn’t a tropical storm was the temperature was 40 degrees.
May 14th, 2026 at 12:06 am
The Bucs pretty much never win in Chicago, and they pretty much never win in primetime, so it’s actually a good thing to get both out of the way in the same game.
Said the same thing last year when the schedule was released and it showed the Bucs playing in primetime at the Rams.
Some things are just the way they are, and this is as surefire of an L as it gets.
May 14th, 2026 at 12:28 am
Mark the tape Rod has picked it.
May 14th, 2026 at 12:29 am
Good game to drink heavily the whole day and pass out before kickoff.
May 14th, 2026 at 12:41 am
I’ve only been to Chicago once and it was fun. Went to a Cubs game. Heard some great Blues. The food was amazing. The Bears suck though. GO BUCS
May 14th, 2026 at 1:19 am
Fun town to visit. Really fun. Excellent food town.
Not fun to live — unless you have wads of cash and don’t mind wearing a coat from Labor Day weekend through early June.
May 14th, 2026 at 1:28 am
I was hoping for a September game, but early November sounds better than late December.
May 14th, 2026 at 5:28 am
There’s something very bad that happens when Todd Bowles has to play a night game … we lose. Not always, but most of the time. Since 2022 in night games …
o 2022: 3 Wins – 2 Losses (plus 1 Playoff Loss)
o 2023: 0 Wins – 2 Losses (plus 1 Playoff Win)
o 2024: 0 Wins – 4 Losses (plus 1 Playoff Loss)
o 2025: 1 Win – 3 Losses
Gives us a 4 Win – 11 Losses record in the regular season under Todd Bowles, plus 1 Win-2 Losses in the playoffs. And over the last 3 years it’s even more abysmal (1 Win – 9 Losses) in the regular season. Coincidence? Gotta agree with Rod; stats like that say … ‘this is as surefire of an L as it gets’.
May 14th, 2026 at 5:38 am
The early Nov. weather should be between 40 – 60 deg. so unless there is a storm should not be too much of an issue.
Now playing in primetime is another story and this one
will unfortunately probably be an L. seem like they
never win in primetime.
May 14th, 2026 at 6:09 am
Guess I should expect a phone call from my good buddies in Chicago any day now. We’ve spent our last few golf outings discussing the Bucs and Bears. Caleb Williams is the real deal. He replaced Spencer Rattler in the RedRiver shootout some years back and Spencer didn’t see the field again until he got to South Carolina. Dad took me and my twin brother to see the Vikings and Bears on MNF at Soldier Field probably 55 years ago or more. Early days of MNF. Spitting ice and snow, windy as heck. The Bears kicked a walkoff FG. But the memorable part was a drunken Vikings fan, after the game, in the parking lot, pulled a gun on dad for allegedly bumping his car. Dad handled it and all was well. Those were the days. I love Chicago. Hope we kick their a$$.
May 14th, 2026 at 6:24 am
A bit melodramatic Joe. Early Nov in Chicago IS football weather.
“Parochial?” What? Utterly ridiculous description of a major metropolitan area with a significant global presence. I hoped that a “journalist” would have better command of his craft and understand the meaning and connotations of words. You clearly are confusing the powerhouse athletic depts of private schools (CCL-Chicago Catholic League) with the 3rd largest US city. There is a lot more to the city beyond the locker rooms on your beat during your tenure in Chicago.
May 14th, 2026 at 6:42 am
“”2023: 0 Wins – 2 Losses (plus 1 Playoff Win)
o 2024: 0 Wins – 4 Losses (plus 1 Playoff Loss)
o 2025: 1 Win – 3 Losses””
And you 10%ers wonder why 90% of Bucs fans were/are sick to our stomachs when this organization retained Todd Bowles. There’s so many more stats that show why but this one that DR posted is DAMNING.
May 14th, 2026 at 9:22 am
The Bucs in primetime is always scary. They just seem to always embarass themselves and the fans. It is like they can’t let the Yucs stigma go and they must reclaim it so it becomes Bucs tradition. Definately like to see their play in prime time reverse and they become excellent in prime time. Yes one can hope.
May 14th, 2026 at 9:23 am
Chicago is a garbage town run by commie pigs.
May 14th, 2026 at 9:46 am
The weather implications for a Nov 8 game are inconsequential. This is likely an L for the Bucs but it will have nothing to do with the weather.
May 14th, 2026 at 10:17 am
Marked as an L in Chicago, prime time and that’s my B day, they never win on or around my birthday
May 14th, 2026 at 10:22 am
Chicago is a great city with awful weather. Democrats aren’t commies.
Now back to football. The Bucs match up pretty well with the Bears. I like our chances. Especially if we do the expected and shut down their run game.
May 14th, 2026 at 10:58 am
Joe knows *exactly* what he typed and what his words meant.
May 14th, 2026 at 12:19 pm
That’s football weather man.
May 14th, 2026 at 12:24 pm
Bucs open at Cincinnati. How are other teams releasing their schedules yet ours is released tonight??
May 14th, 2026 at 2:11 pm
Less of a guaranteed loss than when we would play them in the 70s 80s and even the early 90s.
May 14th, 2026 at 3:04 pm
At this point keeping Bowles was the right move. He has a team that can win 13 to 14 games. We have one of our better deeper teams in a long time. And we are young. If he screws this up he won’t coach again, but I do think he can do something with this team. We are a better team than last year, by ALOT!
May 14th, 2026 at 4:18 pm
This game is week 9. Flex broadcast schedules start in week 5. A lackluster start by either team could get this one flexed out of prime time.
May 15th, 2026 at 12:32 am
Yikes. That sure is a large market for our annual prime time choke.
May 15th, 2026 at 7:28 am
PAROCHIAL:
Merriam-Webster- confined or restricted as if within the borders of a parish : limited in range or scope (as to a narrow area or region) : provincial, narrow
Vocabulary.com describes the nuance of the term “Parochial as follows- If an issue or a matter is parochial, it is trivial or only concerns a local area. Likewise, a person with a parochial mentality is narrow-minded, or not open to new ideas.
While you might ascribe those attributes to a neighborhood in Chicago (of which there are over 200 culturally distinct neighborhoods in the area), to define the city as a whole in this manner is asinine. Imo, your characterization of the city speaks more to your limited haunts than to the realities of the world. But, I’m alright with that. However, I find it irresponsible of you to incite the ignorant horde, e.g. Rusty Shackleford, and turn your site into a political rally. Shame on you for YOUR narrow provincial view
May 15th, 2026 at 7:32 am
I realize my last post is a dead letter and likely to not be be posted, but im hoping you read it Joe.
Kind regards — Shame on your narrow provincial view of Joe’s moderation processes. –Joe
May 15th, 2026 at 9:08 am
Touchè