Bears will play Raiders in London in 2019 as part of NFL’s international series

SHARE Bears will play Raiders in London in 2019 as part of NFL’s international series
packers_bears_football_80725294_e1546636540462.jpg

Bears head coach Matt Nagy celebrates his team’s 24-17 win against the Packers on Dec. 16 in Chicago. (AP Photo/David Banks)

Eight years later, the Bears are going back to London.

The team will play against the Raiders in 2019 in England as part of the NFL’s international series, the league announced Monday.

The date and location will be announced later. The Bears will play at Wembley Stadium, the site of their last overseas game, or the new Tottenham Hotspur stadium in north London.

The matchup won’t cost the Bears a game at Soldier Field. The Raiders — who, after their lease in Oakland expired, don’t have a home city for the 2019 season — will be the home team.

As it does for all teams that play an international game, the NFL will offer the Bears their bye for the next week. Most teams accept the bye to give their players extra time to recover from international travel. The NFL won’t release its full schedule until April.

The game will be outside linebacker Khalil Mack’s first against his former team. The Raiders traded Mack to the Bears eight days before the start of the 2018 season. The Bears then signed Mack to a six-year, $141 million contract that made him the richest defensive player in NFL history.

RELATED

Bears name Ted Monachino their OLBs coach

• Bears QB Mitch Trubisky to play in Pro Bowl

The Bears last played in London in 2011, beating the Buccaneers 24-18 at Wembley Stadium. They played a preseason game in the same stadium in 1986, beating the Cowboys 17-6.

On Monday, the NFL detailed its five scheduled international games for 2019. The Chiefs and Chargers will play in Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium, one year after the Chiefs-Rams game there was moved because of concerns about the playing surface.

The other three London games will pit the Panthers against the Buccaneers, the Bengals against the Rams and the Texans against the Jaguars. Two of the four games will be played at Wembley Stadium and the other two at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.

The stadium’s opening has been delayed for months, but its home club could play there as soon as March. The Daily Mail reported last month that the Raiders were considering playing all their home games at the new stadium in 2019 before their move to Las Vegas in 2020.

The Latest
Over the course of just six fast-paced episodes, Esposito creates a memorable character in this crime drama based on the BBC One series “The Driver.”
Ald. Jeanette Taylor, chair of the City Council’s Education Committee chair, said she’s disappointed that Johnson and his allies in the Chicago Teachers Union backed away from the fully-elected, 21-member board he once supported. “This is not going to be as easy a transition as people think,” she said. “We’re used to a top-down system.”
Alex Caruso has been looking for a defensive showing like the one he and his teammates put on display in the win over the Pacers, but Caruso also knows it needs staying power. Could Javonte Green help that process moving forward?
Christian I. Soto, 22, was charged with murder, attempted murder and home invasion, officials announced Thursday. Rockford Police Chief Carla Redd said earlier investigators haven’t determined a motive for the attacks.
Can a message generated by an algorithm ever match hearing from a human?