Packers to open 2018 season at home to Bears, per report

The Green Bay Packers will reportedly open the regular season at home against the Chicago Bears.

Can you think of a better way to begin the Packers’ 100th season than a visit of the Bears at Lambeau Field? I can’t.

That’s exactly what will happen, according to Rob Demovsky of ESPN.

Demovsky tweeted Thursday afternoon that the Packers will open at home to Chicago, and also close out the season with a home game against the Detroit Lions. Yeah, Green Bay gets Detroit in Week 17 again. Make that three years in a row.

The full regular season schedule will be announced at 7 p.m. CT tonight.

A meeting with Chicago should be very interesting. The Bears have been busy in free agency, strengthening their offense with the signings of Allen Robinson, Trey Burton and Taylor Gabriel. The focus has been on surrounding second-year quarterback Mitch Trubisky with talent. Will they go and add guard Quenton Nelson in the 2018 NFL Draft?

We’ll get an idea of how good this Bears team can be in Week 1. It would be unfair to judge any team after just one game, but if Chicago leaves Lambeau with a win, people will begin to take notice.

The Packers, too, will be different. Mike McCarthy has been working with returning offensive coordinator Joe Philbin to rebuild the offense from scratch.

It will also be the first regular season test for the new-look defense under Mike Pettine. How much will have changed?

The Week 17 visit of Detroit could determine a playoff spot. It’s unlikely the Packers would already have the NFC North title won by then. Maybe the winner will earn a wild-card berth, or perhaps the Packers will be able to win the division with victory in Detroit. Time will tell.

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Stay tuned as more schedule updates are released throughout the day. For now, we know two of Green Bay’s 2018 games.