Bear Digest

The perfect mock 2025 schedule for the Chicago Bears

After all the tough breaks in close games last year, the Bears could use a break or too and this mock schedule would definitely give them some.
Gene Chamberlain|
No need for coats at Lambeau Field when the Bears play there on this mock schedule.
No need for coats at Lambeau Field when the Bears play there on this mock schedule. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

There are always conspiracy theories when it comes to league offices.

The NFL might not be as much of a target for such things as the NBA. The Bulls got the chance to draft Derrick Rose first despite a 1.7% lottery chance. Same type of thing when the Knicks got to draft Patrick Ewing.

Schedules are always another source for this sort of thing. Think Walter Sobchak in the movie "The Big Lebowski" complaining about the bowling league schedule. In the NFL, how is it that the schedule always came out for years with the Bears playing a prime time game at Green Bay but never the other way around?

In a period of 12 seasons, the Bears had to play a night game at Lambeau Field 11 times. The streak finally ended in 2023 and they didn't need to do it either of the last two seasons. They had two Chicago night games in that stretch.

The league schedule can have all kinds of quirks and it opens the way to plenty of speculation about the NFL's agenda.

Do they want certain teams to succeed? It seems unlikely but hmmmm.

Of course, fans complain all the time about officiating conspiracies and mostly in relation to Kansas City.

Ask any Bears fan. For years it was speculated that officials were against Justin Fields because he got clobbered when he was supposed to be protected as he slid, but Aaron Rodgers could have a safety look at him for two seconds from 30 yards downfield, officials saw it and then flagged the Bears for roughing the quarterback.

There could be something to this schedule thing, though. Going to Green Bay all of those years in a row at night should mean they get some breaks from the schedule makers. All the tough losses last year say they deserve it, too.

Here's a mock schedule the league should adopt to give the Bears the best possible run at the playoffs.

Week 1

Lions at Bears, noon

Normally you want the Lions coming to Soldier Field in the cold weather to exploit how Jared Goff's blood freezes up in temperatures below 60 degrees. Not this year. This is an ideal week for Bears-Lions in Chicago because of the Ben Johnson hype facing his old team. The Bears want that first game in Chicago to remove the obnoxious Lions fans factor. Getting after Johnson later in the season in Detroit just doesn't have the same impact as it would in the very first game, and the season has been playing out. So this has to be in Chicago. Make it at noon so no one gets to see it except viewers in Chicago and Detroit.

Week 2

Bears at Packers, 3:25 p.m.

No one likes going up to that freezer in December or November. Make it at 3:25 p.m. because Chicago people wanting to go up there can drive up in the morning, then come back after the game and won't have to stay in that state any longer than is necessary. No overnight trip.

Week 3

Bears at Bengals, noon

After two big division games, you need one when your offense can go on the road but feel less restricted. Cincinnati is it because their defense still thinks it's two-hand touch football. In Week 3, whatever changes they've made to try and improve an awful group will not have taken root yet.

Week 4

Cowboys at Bears, 7:20 p.m.

A Sunday night game for Matt Eberflus to come to Chicago and watch his defense get shredded. If the Bears are at least halfway decent, the city is usually charged up for night games like this and road teams face a big disadvantage. The fans will be all over Flus the way Detroit fans would be if the Bears have to play early in Detroit. By Week 4, Dak Prescott is usually injured or getting ready to be injured, or else he's mailing it in. Sign spotted in the stands at Soldier Field: "Flus, you still got that timeout you kept in your pocket at Detroit?"

Week 5

Bears at Ravens, noon

They're not going to be able to stop Lamar Jackson's scrambling and Roquan Smith has been waiting for his revenge for so long that he probably forgot he started with the Bears by now. But everything is weighing against the Bears in this one. Even Johnson has trouble with the Ravens. His last matchup going against their defense, they got routed 38-6. So they might as well take their inevitable loss when they have a short work week.

Week 6

Bears at Vikings, noon

Better to play the Vikings on the road earlier in the year while J.J. McCarthy is still stumbling around like the rookie he actually is. Minnesota will need to get a lot of turnovers from Brian Flores' blitzing defense to stay in this one.

Week 7

Bye

Putting the bye near the middle of the season is too logical so don't expect the league to put it  here. Think Week 4 or Week 14. That's how they usually do things.

Week 8

Bears at Commanders, noon

A week off and then the Bears get to play one of their most anticipated games. They'll be nice and rested for the rematch of the Hail Mary game. The people on Sunday Night Football might actually want this game on their schedule. Denying Chris Collinsworth and Mike Tirico would be even more fun than beating Washington.

Week 9

Steelers at Bears, 7:20 p.m.

Sunday Night Football gets the return of Aaron Rodgers to the place he used to claim he owns. Instead, he'll come as Steelers starter and find there's a new sheriff in town named Johnson. The Bears ended Brett Favre's career with a heated pass rush and concussion caused by Corey Wootton's sack. They'll get the old man out of this game, but it might not be by injury. He just might finally decide the NFL is no country for old men and retire after the Bears sack him seven or eight times, or pick him off four or five times.

Week 10

Giants at Bears, noon

This Giants team should be better than last year. About the only way New York couldn't be better would be if Mike Glennon returned at quarterback, like when they played at Chicago in 2021. There's a long ways to go before the Giants are respectable and they won't be in this one.

Week 11

Browns at Bears, 3 p.m.

By this point in the season, football's version of LeBron, Myles Garrett, will be looking for reasons why he should be able to leave Cleveland again. It will help Caleb Williams get his passes away.

Week 12

Bears at Eagles, noon

There is no good time to play a road game against the defending world champions but later in the season at least lets the Bears have time to get more experience for Caleb Williams. And who knows? By then the Eagles might be out of the playoff race with only two or three wins because they're not allowed to use the tush push after the coming rule change stops the cheating.

Week 13

Packers at Bears, 7:30 p.m.

A Monday night game. Disrupt the Packers' schedule for the next week with less preparation time and make them play a night game in Chicago for a change. The Bears also beat them in a regular-season night game at Soldier Field in the season when they last made it to the NFC Championship Game.

Week 14

Bears at Lions, noon

The Bears get to avoid another Thanksgiving game and by now going to Detroit for Johnson should be no big deal. Detroit might be out of the race by this point since they lost practically the entire coaching staff and a starting guard.

Week 15 

Vikings at Bears, 7:15 p.m.

The dome-dwelling Vikings get to come to Chicago for the cold weather in the rematch and it will be even colder at night.   Enjoy purple people because they get to come to the cold on a Thursday night without much time to prep for a road game.

Week 16

Bears at 49ers, 3:25 p.m.

The only thing better than bringing warm-weather teams or dome teams to Chicago in the cold is for a team to get to leave the cold and play a game in warmer weather. The Bears also got to do something like this in 2018, when they went to San Francisco late in the season en route to winning their division title.

Week 17

Bears at Raiders, 3 p.m.

Ben Johnson gets to go to Vegas with his high-flying offense and show Tom Brady and Co. what they lost out on to Chicago in January.

Week 18

Saints at Bears, noon

The best way to finish a season is not a rivalry game but against a team that should struggle, faces salary cap problems all the time and will be coming from warm weather and a dome to play in freezing January cold at Soldier Field. The Saints will have their buses running in the third quarter – with the heaters on high.

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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.