Bears Staying Put

Even though they have more road games than home games, the Bears will be traveling the third fewest miles in the NFL to play this season.

USA Today

The Bears not only got a break by avoiding the disruption that comes with a trip to Europe, they also have one of the easiest schedules in terms of travel.

In fact, the entire NFC North benefits in this way.

According to calculations from Bill Speros at Bookies.com, the Bears are traveling the third-fewest miles and average the secod-fewest miles per road trip in the league.

The Bears will travel 12,253 miles this season, Speros reports, and only the Packers (11,956) and Bengals (11,942) will travel less.

The road game in L.A. against the Chargers takes up 3,503 of the Bears' 12,253 miles, and the trip to Tampa Bay 1,994 miles.

The 1,361.44 average miles per road trip by the Bears is shorter than any team except the Packers (1,328).

Speros also tracks time zones traveled, which actually is important because of the disruption to the body. The Bears will go through 12 time zones this year, tied for the second fewest. The Lions only have to travel through eight all year.

Seattle and San Francisco must go through 36 time zones.

All four NFC North teams are among the lowest six in terms of overall miles to be traveled.

Besides the Packers' 11,956 and Bears' 12,253, Minnesota is fifth at 13,226 and Detroit sixth at 13,923.

Of course, the key to this is the Bears and the NFC north teams are not traveling to London or Germany.

This lack of travel for the Bears comes even though they have nine road games and only eight home games this season. 

Speros' article lists all NFL travel distances in charts and the story.

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