You may have heard you can stream this week’s Packers-Bears game on Amazon, prime-time in Prime Video, and that’s true. But you can definitely still watch it on regular television, too.
The upcoming Thursday Night Football showdown on Sept. 28 between the NFL’s oldest rivals, Green Bay and Chicago, will be streamed by Amazon to a global audience (of Prime members), as part of a major digital partnership between the American sports league and the electronic commerce giant. The Week 4 Packers-Bears matchup is the first of 10 contests distributed to Prime Video members this season, in the first year of the agreement.
As part of the deal, members are able to stream several Thursday Night Football games for free – though not all of them; some are special events or exclusive to the NFL Network – on the Amazon Prime Video app for TVs, game consoles, set-top boxes, mobile devices and online. The TNF games will be accessible to the tens of millions of Prime Video members worldwide, so international Packers fans (and they’re definitely hardcore) can cheer on the Green and Gold right along with the Lambeau Field crowd.
Besides being streamed on Amazon, Thursday night’s game will be nationally televised on CBS and the NFL Network, with play-by-play man Jim Nantz and analyst Tony Romo – the Burlington, Wisconsin native and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback who’s been refreshingly fun and insightful as a commentator – handling the call in the broadcast booth, and Tracy Wolfson and Jay Feely reporting from the sidelines.
In Wisconsin, local CBS affiliates around the state, including WDJT (Channel 58) in Milwaukee and WFRV (Channel 5) in Green Bay, will carry the game. As it’s done since 1929, Milwaukee’s WTMJ (620 AM) leads the Packers Radio Network, made up of 50 stations in five states, with Wayne Larrivee and Larry McCarren on the mic. Additionally, Westwood One Sports will air the game across the country, with Ian Eagle and Tony Boselli calling the action and Scott Graham hosting pregame and halftime shows. The broadcast is also on Sirius Satellite Radio (WTMJ feed).
The NFL-Amazon partnership has extended the league’s digital presence, making its high-valued content – the Week 3 slate of games were as entertaining as any in recent memory – available across multiple platforms, with broadcast (NBC/CBS), cable (NFL Network) and digital (Prime Video) distribution.
So if you’re a cord-cutting #millennial, or a Japanese cheesehead, or just a regular old Milwaukeean, you can stream or watch Thursday’s Packers vs. Bears game, which kicks off at 7:25 p.m. CDT at Lambeau Field. And you should watch it – even though it’s the third consecutive year Green Bay is hosting Chicago on a Thursday night and the 12th straight season the NFC North divisional foes square off in a prime-time contest – because the Packers have become dramatically (perhaps unnecessarily) exciting.
On Sept. 28, the two rivals will meet for the 195th time, and the series couldn’t be closer, as it’s tied at 94-94-6 all-time. The Packers have won seven of the last nine games against the Bears at Lambeau Field, including a 26-10 victory in Week 7 last year. Over those last nine contests, Green Bay has doubled up Chicago, outscoring the Windy City opponents, 240-120. This Thursday’s game will take place nearly 60 years after Lambeau Field (originally called Green Bay City Stadium) hosted its first regular-season game, between the Packers and Bears on Sept. 29, 1957.
Under head coach Mike McCarthy, Green Bay is 16-7 against Chicago during the regular and postseason, including wins in 12 of the last 14 games. With Aaron Rodgers as the starting quarterback, the Packers are 15-4 against the Bears, counting the playoffs. In those 19 games, Rodgers has an overall passer rating of 103.2, which is the highest mark Chicago’s allowed an opposing quarterback in its history. Green Bay opened this week as seven-point favorites over Chicago.
Following Thursday’s game, the Packers travel to Dallas to play the Cowboys in Week 5, the fifth straight season the teams have met, including playoffs. Green Bay’s bye is in Week 8.
Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.
After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.
Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.
