It’s become tradition in the NFL for the reigning Super Bowl champions to play in the first game of the following season on “Thursday Night Football.”
That won’t be the case in the 2019 campaign.
Instead, the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers will battle it out in the season opener as the NFL honors its 100-year anniversary with the league’s oldest rivalry. The Super Bowl LIII champion New England Patriots will have to wait until that Sunday night to play their first game of the new campaign.
It should come as no surprise that a good chunk of Patriots fans weren’t thrilled by the news.
— PatsFanPnW (@PatriotsfanNW) March 25, 2019
So not the Thursday Night Game like Tradition? Why?
— Ian (@IanMCusick) March 25, 2019
Calling on all @Patriots fans to boycott the @NFL season opener! DO NOT WATCH @NBCSports @nbc that night! If it’s the 100 yr anniversary, they should be celebrating the greatest franchise in @NFLonFOX history. This reeks of Goodell’s anti-Patriot fingerprints. #GoPats
— Alexandre Martin (@Hoot_Life) March 25, 2019
This is lame
— Stick Sanders (@StickSanders) March 25, 2019
This angers me so much. #FireGoodell
— Jon O'Hara (@JonOcomedy) March 25, 2019
Don’t worry, Patriots fans. Once the new Super Bowl banner is raised at Gillette Stadium all of your frustrations surely will subside.
New England’s Week 1 opponent remains unknown. The full schedule for the upcoming season will be released later this spring.
