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Bear Digest

Bears' 2026 Schedule Is Tough, but Their NFC North Rivals May Have It Worse

Of course the Bears have a difficult slate of opponents because they won the NFC North but there's far more involved with a schedule than last year's records.
Gene Chamberlain|
How does that Bears schedule shape up against their NFC North opponents' schedules, including the Packers? Not too bad, really.
How does that Bears schedule shape up against their NFC North opponents' schedules, including the Packers? Not too bad, really. | Matt Marton-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

When even ESPN's Dan Orlovsky thinks the Bears' schedule isn't the unbearable slate many have painted it to be, perhaps it's not as difficult as it really looks on paper.

At least it doesn't seem to be as strong as it could have been considering last year's opponents do have the highest winning percentage for any team's slate of opponents.

"I don't see the Bears as this giant regression team people are pegging them to be," Orlovsky said on ESPN's schedule reaction show.

The positive side is a relatively lighter start with only the Eagles among their first four games with winning records from last year, and that Philadelphia game is at home.

There are plenty of reasons to like or dislike the Bears' schedule but what's important is how it stacks up against the other teams from the NFC North. In this respect, it could be worse as well. From an objective viewpoint, it looks like the third-easiest schedule.

Green Bay looks like it has the most favorable slate and then Minnesota, with the Bears third. The Lions thought they would benefit from the third-place record but the schedule handed to them looks like the toughest one in the division based on timing.

1. Green Bay

You'd think Matt LaFleur paid off someone with the league, from looking at Green Bay's schedule.

Considering they start the season with Micah Parsons needing every bit of recovery time to get back to 100%, they get to play four of the worst teams on their schedule in the first four games.

They start against four teams with losing records from last year, including the opener with the Vikings trying to get Kyler Murray going in a new offense in his first game with a new team. Then the Jets, the Falcons, and Buccaneers. There's not a single winning record among them.

When this happens, you expect a bunch of strong teams coming up later and it happens. However, the finish to Green Bay's season is probably why you'd think money changed hands.

Not only do the Packers get to finish the season with four home games in the last five weeks, but three of the games are at the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field against warm-weather or domed opponents — Miami, Houston, and the Lions.

If LaFleur can't win the division against this schedule, maybe he finally deserves to be fired after all the times Packers fans have hinted at his departure at the end of past seasons.

2. Vikings

Although it's a schedule with the Packers and Bears up right away, this could also be a break for them to see these two in the first two weeks. There's no way Parsons will be 100% for that opener after a December ACL tear. Then the Bears will be using a new offensive line when the season starts, or at least two new starters over the end of last season. They'll need time to meld that group.

After two divisional rivals, the Vikings get to face three straight losing teams (Tampa Bay, Miami and New Orleans). The finish to their schedule is the Bears in Minnesota, where it's always tough to play because of the fake crowd noise they obviously pipe in.  It's always better for the Vikings to be at home late in the season because they're a dome team and not a cold-weather team. They get to play three of their last four at home, with the only road game in that group comes against the laughingstock Jets.

3. Bears

The severity of a schedule with so many prime-time or holiday games (7), and with three straight weeks of night games at one point, are factors against the Bears. However, they have something very significant working in their favor.

They'll be very rested and will be closer to home than other teams throughout the season. Only the Panthers (8,740) and Browns (9,073) log less air miles than the Bears (10,676).

Far more importantly, the Bears will be the most-rested team in the league according to calculations by analyst Noah Bair. They get a plus-15 differential in days of rest over their opponents this season. This can really matter at the end of seasons. This results from the fact the Bears face no one coming off a bye, but they have some extra rest at various points themselves.

4. Lions

Just as Detroit was plotting its revenge for being dislodged by the Bears as NFC North champions, the Lions were handed a nightmare schedule when they thought they had an easy one. At least all of those projects said they had one of the easiest schedules. But there's more to schedules than opponents' records last year. Timing is everything.

The start looks easy enough with New Orleans, but consider that later Detroit must play three games in a span of 11 days, and it starts with their game in Germany. In the 11 days, they play New England, Tampa Bay and the Bears on Thanksgiving on three days rest. They also finish with three of their last four on the road and all three against divisional opponents. Their bye is in Week 6, which means a lot of injured or worn-out players by the final month.

Christian Booher of Detroit Lions On SI tracked fan outrage in Detroit over the early bye and the demanding schedule.

"The Lions have had early byes in the past, including in Week 5 in the 2024 season," Booher wrote. "Many remember that this was the season the Lions earned the No. 1 seed in the NFC, but suffered a slew of injuries. The early bye took out any chance the team had of getting a week to catch it's breath until their bye in the first round of the playoffs."

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

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