How to watch Chicago Bears vs. San Francisco 49ers 2025 Week 17 ‘Sunday Night Football’

Coming into Week 17 of the NFL season, the San Francisco 49ers and Chicago Bears are both 11-4 and locked into playoff berths, but their specific seeds are still up in the air. The Bears currently sit at No. 2 in the NFC, but still have a shot at the No. 1 seed, while the Niners are fifth, but could move up or down, depending on what happens in the final two weeks of the season. So, when the two Super Bowl contenders meet in Dec. 28’s edition of “Sunday Night Football,” they both have a lot to play for. You can catch all of the Football Night in America action when the teams kick off at 8:20 p.m. ET in a game airing on NBC, with Universo handling the Spanish-language broadcast. If you are looking for a live TV streaming service to watch the game, we recommend streaming it with a five-day free trial to DIRECTV. You can also stream it with one of the Peacock Premium subscriptions.

How to watch San Francisco 49ers vs. Chicago Bears

• When: Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025 at 8:20 p.m. ET
• TV: NBC
• Stream: Watch with a five-day free trial to DIRECTV or Peacock.
• From anywhere: Watch with a subscription to a VPN.

Everything you need to know to stream 49ers vs. Bears:

Why we recommend DIRECTV to watch 49ers vs. Bears

When it comes to offering the most channels in streaming, every live TV streaming service is chasing DIRECTV. The platform offers the most of The Streamable’s top 35 cable channels, so if you are looking for a breadth of programming options, DIRECTV is a surefire hit. In addition, the streamer has the industry’s best guaranteed free trial. While others can roll out longer options depending on what time of year it is and what qualifications you meet as a customer, DIRECTV offers a five-day trial to all new users. So, if you are specifically looking to watch the 49ers vs. Bears game, this is the option that makes the most sense.

Related: How to make the most out of your NFL experience with DIRECTV

But in the 2025-26 season of NFL and college football, for the first time, DIRECTV is able to offer an even more compelling package of channels for football fans. Earlier this year, DIRECTV launched its Genre Packs that allow people to pick curated channel lineups around central themes and genres, and for sports fans, that means the MySports Pack.

The MySports plan runs $70 a month after the aforementioned five-day free trial, which gives you a way to check out everything that it has to offer before having to pay a penny. You’ll also get a bunch of great sports channels with MySports, including ACC Network, Big Ten Network, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, FS1, FS2, Golf Channel, MLB Network, NBA TV, NFL Network, NHL Network, SEC Network, TBS, TNT, and USA Network, and depending on your market, ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC.

These channels bring you an incredible selection of games from across pro and college sports, oh, and MySports also comes with a free ESPN+ subscription? Pretty solid. All these channels and features are available for just $70, which is why it’s our favorite way to watch.

Can you watch 49ers vs. Bears for free?

If you are just looking for a streaming service to watch this specific game and nothing else, there are options available for you. DIRECTV, Hulu + Live TV, Fubo, and YouTube TV all offer free trials, but they vary in length, so be wary. DIRECTV’s industry-leading trial runs for five days, while Hulu + Live TV’s is a solid three days.

Those are pretty straightforward, but when it comes to the sports-minded streamer Fubo, things can get a little complicated. As The Streamable’s expert David Satin discovered when signing up for the services, figuring out how long Fubo’s trial is — even as you are signing up — can be a bit difficult. Nonetheless, it will be at least one day, with the potential to be as many as seven, depending on a wide range of factors that Fubo does not share publicly.

The YouTube TV trial is said to be “up to two weeks,” but can be as short as two days. So it is difficult to ascertain what you are actually getting before you go through the signup process.

If you are looking to watch the game for free, I would recommend DIRECTV, because that streamer has the longest guaranteed free trial and gives you the best channel options.

What are all of the streamers you can use to watch the 49ers vs. Bears game?

Fortunately for football fans, there are six different streaming services that will stream the game, so you have options to choose from if you don’t already subscribe to any of them. We discussed DIRECTV and the free trial options above, but there is one more, and it offers a different type of streaming arrangement.

In addition to the live TV streaming options, since the game is being broadcast on NBC (and in Spanish on Universo), you will be able to stream it on Peacock’s two Premium tiers. Peacock Premium runs $11 per month while Premium Plus comes with additional features for $17 monthly.

Ultimately, there are tons of different ways to stream the game, and while we recommend DIRECTV as the best way to stream this game, you have plenty of options to find the platform that meets your needs.

Watch a preview of 49ers vs. Bears

How to watch 49ers vs. Bears from anywhere

If you’ll be away from home and can’t watch the game as you normally would, you can still catch all of the action no matter where you are in the world with a VPN. A VPN can be used on your phone, tablet, or computer and make you appear to be back home — even when you’re not — making sure you feel at home no matter where you are. A VPN is a safe and secure way to stay protected online while streaming your favorite sports, movies, and shows on the go. Keep in mind that you will still need to be subscribed to a live TV streaming like DIRECTV in order to stream the game with a VPN.

ExpressVPN is one of the best providers around, at one of the best prices. Currently, you can get a month of service for as little as $5. ExpressVPN is the most-trusted VPN on the market and comes with a 30-day, money-back guarantee. ExpressVPN has servers in 105 countries, best-in-class encryption, 24-hour live support, and the best speeds available.

While ExpressVPN is our recommendation for the best VPN to use while you are traveling, there are a number of other high-quality options available depending on what you are looking for.

• Most Secure: NordVPN | Starting at $3.09 per month
• Best Budget Option: Surfshark | Starting at $2.50 per month
• Best Free Option: Proton VPN | Free plan available