No Surprise Bears Voted Against Rule

It's not surprising because of their schedule, but the Bears were one of the teams voting against the NFL's decision to flex Thursday night games.

The Giants, Jets, Packers, Raiders, Lions, Bengals and Steelers joined the Bears in voting against the move according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Considering they already have to play two Thursday night games, it comes across as an empathy vote. But the Bears are standing on principle in this one as the league gets in on yet another money grab.

Teams can't be flexed into a Thursday night if they already have two Thursday night games, and the Bears' Thursday night games are on the road at Washington Oct. 5 and at home Nov. 9 against Carolina.

Also, 28 days notice is required before a the decision to flex the Thursday games, so at least the subjects of this cruelty will be well aware it's coming. The initial proposal reportedly carried along the unbelievably short-sighted stipulation that teams would get only 15 days notice.

Only two Thursday night games can be flexed league-wide this year. The games that could be flexed out are Week 13 Dallas at Seattle, Week 14 Pittsburgh at New England, Week 15 San Francisco at Seattle, Week 16 L.A. Rams at New Orleans and Week 17 Cleveland at the Jets.

The league is also flexing Monday night games for the first time this year so there's always the chance this could happen to the Bears, as well.

While the Bears do have the two Thursday games with little preparation time, at least their schedule overall provides plenty of rest and preparation time.

According to Sharp Football Analysis, the Bears schedule is actually friendly in terms of rest because they'll have a net plus-12 days of rest advantage over opponents this year, tied for most in the league.

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