Bears Lose Home Game to London

The Bears had been slated for nine home games in 2024 but have been told they will host one of those in London's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The Bears might need to update passports.

The team will play at London's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as a host team, the team announced on its website.

The Bears have not been out of the country for a game since they went to London in 2019 so their return overseas was anticipated, but where was the big issue because the NFL has expanded to games in other countries since they faced the Raiders at Tottenham under coach Matt Nagy and lost 24-21.

The NFL schedule doesn't come out until May but normally the league will announce the international games ahead of the rest of the schedule. So it's likely their opponent for the game will be known well ahead of the full schedule.

However, the game does count as one of the home games the Bears have so they will be playing either the Patriots, Rams, Seahawks, Titans, Packers or Lions.

According to the Bears, other host teams for international games are the Vikings, Jaguars and Panthers. The Bears play the Vikings and Panthers in home games next year so those can be eliminated as London games.

Since it's a home game, they lose a game at Soldier Field but next year is a season they were slated to have nine games at Soldier Field instead of eight.

The Bears are 1-1 in regular-season games played in London. They beat Tampa Bay in 2011.

Last year there were offseason rumors they would play Kansas City in Germany but those turned out to be false.

The international series rules the league decided upon require teams to play outside the U.S. at least once every eight years.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven