Hallmark’s “Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story” premiered Oct. 17, 2026, and viewers searching for the cast can find confirmed names, character roles and the film’s ties to the Chicago Bears below. The movie marks Hallmark’s third “Holiday Touchdown” film made in collaboration with the NFL and Skydance Sports, following earlier entries set around the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
This guide breaks down who plays whom, how the characters connect, and what makes this installment different from the two NFL-themed Hallmark films that came before it. It applies specifically to the 2026 premiere airing as the centerpiece of Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas lineup.
Holiday Touchdown A Bears Love Story Cast And Characters
Lyndsy Fonseca stars as Avery, a freelance reporter who travels to Chicago on assignment, The Hollywood Reporter reported. Robert Buckley plays Matt, a Chicago firefighter whose grandmother is a lifelong Bears superfan. That grandmother, Darlene Donnelly, is played by Marsha Mason, a four-time Oscar nominee, according to Decider.
Barbara Alyn Woods plays Avery’s mother, and Khary Payton plays her stepfather. Eric Lynch appears as Avery’s ex-boyfriend, a staffer at the fictional Chicago Herald. Abraham Benrubi rounds out the cast in a Santa Claus role, Decider reported.
How The Story Brings The Characters Together
Avery is assigned to profile Darlene as the superfan prepares to attend her 500th Bears game, a milestone that becomes the heart of the film. The assignment puts Avery in regular contact with Matt, Darlene’s grandson, setting up the central romance, per The Hollywood Reporter.
The film leans into Chicago staples beyond football. Scenes show the leads eating Italian beef sandwiches and doing shots of Malört, a notoriously bitter local liqueur, giving the production a specific sense of place rather than a generic holiday backdrop.
Filming Locations And Chicago Bears Connection
Production shot on location in Chicago, including scenes filmed at Halas Hall, the Chicago Bears‘ headquarters and practice facility in Lake Forest, Illinois, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The cast and crew also filmed a charity auction sequence built around Bears Care, the team’s charitable organization, tying the fictional story to a real Bears institution.
Dustin Rikert directed the film. The Bears setting distinguishes this entry from its predecessors: the first “Holiday Touchdown” film, centered on the Chiefs, grew out of a video the team’s social media staff made spoofing Hallmark movie tropes back in 2024, and the second was set around the Buffalo Bills.
Where And When To Watch
“Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story” premiered Oct. 17, 2026, as the centerpiece of the opening weekend of Hallmark’s 2026 Countdown to Christmas programming. Viewers tracking the network’s full holiday slate can check Hallmark’s broader release calendar for additional premiere dates throughout the season, including other entries detailed in Total Apex Entertainment’s 2026 Christmas movie premiere calendar.
For viewers who want more Hallmark programming to pair with the Bears-themed premiere, Total Apex Entertainment’s roundup of essential Hallmark October movies covers other 2026 titles that led into the Countdown to Christmas season.
What’s Next
With the film now airing as part of Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas kickoff weekend, the network’s broader holiday slate continues to roll out through the season. Fans of the NFL-Hallmark crossover format can expect the franchise’s format, pairing a real team’s home city and culture with a scripted romance, to remain a recurring part of Hallmark’s holiday strategy following the Chiefs, Bills and now Bears installments.
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