When Sunday’s game against the Vikings was moved to prime time last week, the Bears’ decision-makers began worrying about the short window between that game and the afternoon matchup on Thanksgiving against the Lions in Detroit.
The players, though, welcome their return to the national spotlight.
“That’s what you dream of as a kid, that’s what you dream of as a player,” inside linebacker Danny Trevathan said Tuesday. “You want to play under the lights. You want to make sure that you play your best game.
“This is all or nothing. For us, it’s a big game because it’s the next game. It’s a divisional game. We need this to get to where we want to go this year.”
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Sunday’s game marks the Bears’ return to national television for the first time since they opened the season on “Sunday Night Football” and “Monday Night Football” in back-to-back weeks. They’re not scheduled to play another night game this season, but they could find their way back onto “SNF.” NBC could “flex” the Bears’ Dec. 9 home game against the Rams or their Dec. 30 season finale in Minnesota to a night game.
Players take the national exposure as a compliment.
“It just shows what we have been showing so far in these first nine weeks,” cornerback Kyle Fuller said. “That’s what comes with it, so we’re excited.”
Cornerback Prince Amukamara can feel the buzz already.
“I can tell there’s excitement in the social-media world by a lot of fans, just how passionate they are,” he said. “And we are excited it’s a Sunday night game. It’s a great time to show [how] great we’re been doing.”
Bears fans, though, already know how well the team has been doing.
“They’ve been waiting a long time for us to go ahead and splash out here,” Trevathan said. “I think the city deserves it, the fans deserve it, everybody that’s part of the organization deserves it.”