Patriots to open 2019 season on Sunday Night Football

The Patriots will open their 2019 season at home on Sunday Night Football, where they will host an undetermined opponent and raise their sixth title banner.

Bucking a recent trend, the NFL announced on Monday its plans to open the 2019 season with the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers battling for the 199th time on Thursday Night Football. The move ends a lengthy streak in which the defending Super Bowl champions from the previous season played on Thursday night to open the new NFL season.

Instead, the league announced that the New England Patriots, reigning NFL champions by virtue of their victory over the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl 53, will begin their quest to repeat by hosting an as-yet-unknown opponent at Gillette Stadium on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.” The Patriots typically play two or three games a season on SNF, an honor usually reserved for the most intriguing matchups and the most popular teams.

Ever since the Super Bowl ended, there was speculation that the NFL could elect to place a more traditional rivalry at the forefront of its “Back to Football” celebration and pageantry. The Bears and Packers form the oldest rivalry in professional football, so it seems only natural that the two classic teams will be pitted against one another to launch the NFL’s historic 100th season.

The Bears will host the Packers at Solider Field in prime time; the game will also be televised by NBC and broadcast by Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth. Green Bay currently holds a 97-95-6 all-time series advantage over Chicago.

For the Patriots, possible opponents include the Miami Dolphins, New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs, New York Giants, Dallas Cowboys, Pittsburgh Steelers, or Cleveland Browns.

Most football fans would probably love to see the Chiefs come to Gillette for a second straight year – the two teams delivered a Sunday Night Football thriller last season in Foxborough, before putting on an encore performance in a sensational AFC Championship Game in Kansas City. If the NFL doesn’t want to slate a conference championship rematch as its opening Sunday night game, it could choose a popular team like the Pittsburgh Steelers or the Dallas Cowboys as the Patriots’ opponent instead.

Recently, the Cleveland Browns have also been gaining steam as a dark-horse candidate to play New England in Week 1. Such an idea would have been ludicrous this time last year, but after the Browns’ surprising finish to the 2018 season with rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield at the controls – and now with superstar receiver Odell Beckham Jr. in town as well – a Cleveland/New England clash feels a lot more scintillating on paper at least.