Bears' Strength of Schedule Ranking Shows Brutal Road Back to Postseason in 2026

The Chicago Bears' strength of schedule ranking has dropped and it shows Ben Johnson and Co. will have to earn it to get back to the playoffs in 2026.

Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson. | David Banks-Imagn Images

Oddsmakers have dropped projected win totals for the 2026 NFL season following the draft and we can now get a decent idea for the Chicago Bears' strength of schedule for the upcoming campaign.

Using projected win totals for the upcoming season as opposed to the previous season's win totals to project strength of schedule is just a better method. Sure, it's definitely not full-proof, but teams can change a lot from the year prior during the offseason and projected win totals better reflect those changes.

Warren Sharp of Sharp Football Analysis crunched the numbers for all of us and they show the Bears have the sixth-hardest strength of schedule for the 2026 season based on those projected win totals from oddsmakers.

Of course, this shouldn't come as much of a surprise because the Bears finished atop the NFC North last season and draw a first-place schedule in 2026 as a result.

The two teams with the hardest schedules in the league are the Miami Dolphins and Arizona Cardinals, as if those two rebuilding teams needed the deck stacked against them any more.

Then, the Carolina Panthers, Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Rams round out the top five, with the Bears falling right outside that group.

Chicago's slate amounts to the fifth-toughest in the NFC and the most difficult in the NFC North. The Detroit Lions actually have the easiest slate in the entire NFL while the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers have the 16th- and 17th-easiest schedules.

Along with the Lions, the New Orleans Saints, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns and New York Jets make up the top-five easiest schedules in the NFL.

Chicago Bears' 2026 opponents

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold. | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

We've known who the Bears' opponents would be since the end of the 2025 regular season. They are as follows:

Home: Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Philadelphia Eagles, Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Jets, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints.

Away: Lions, Packers, Vikings, Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Seattle Seahawks.

Just looking at that list, you can see why the Bears have it so tough this coming season.

The Packers, Eagles, Jaguars, Patriots, Bills, Panthers and Seahawks all made the playoffs last season and should be contending for a playoff spot once again this year.

The Lions, Vikings, Bucs and Falcons nearly made the playoffs in 2025 and should be in the hunt again, and New Orleans should be improved with a full year of Tyler Shough, assuming he continues playing like he did at the end of last season.

If the Bears are going to break their streak of missing the playoffs a season after making the postseason, they're no doubt going to have to earn it.