Ravens-Bears at Hall of Fame to kick off preseason schedule

NEW YORK – The Ravens and Bears will kick off the NFL’s preseason on Aug. 2 in the Hall of Fame game as they honor 2018 inductees Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher.

Baltimore linebacker Lewis and Chicago linebacker Urlacher will enter the hall on Aug. 4.

The league’s preseason schedule was announced Wednesday and features eight nationally televised games. In Week 2 of the preseason, the Jets will visit the Redskins for a Thursday night game Aug. 16, and the Ravens will be at Indianapolis on Aug. 20.

Week 3 will have five national telecasts, beginning Aug. 23 with Super Bowl champion Philadelphia at Cleveland. The next night will see Detroit at Tampa Bay. On Saturday, Aug. 25, New Orleans visits the Los Angeles Chargers, and the following day, Cincinnati is at Buffalo for an afternoon match, with Arizona at Dallas in a night game.

The preseason will end Aug. 30-31, and the regular season will begin Sept. 6 in Philadelphia.

Regular season schedules will be announced at a later date.