Bear Digest

All the Highs and Lows of 2024 Chicago Bears Schedule

Analysis: The toughest stretch, easiest stretch, revenge games and challenges ahead for Caleb Williams and the Bears in the 2024 schedule.

Gene Chamberlain

Jaylon Johnson goes for a tackle against the Rams. The Bears have lost three in a row to the Rams, but they're coming to Chicago and the Bears have won three straight over the Rams there.
Jaylon Johnson goes for a tackle against the Rams. The Bears have lost three in a row to the Rams, but they're coming to Chicago and the Bears have won three straight over the Rams there. / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
In this story:

Often NFL schedules come with hidden soft spots, trap games and massive challenges against powerful opponents who rate as heavy favorites.

There’s little hidden within this Bears schedule as Caleb Williams embarks upon his first season as franchise savior.

It’s right there for you, an easier start with only a few games where they could be overmatched early, time to work their way into a new offense with a new coordinator and to see young defensive linemen improve as pass rushers.

Later, it becomes the kind of schedule where either improvements made while the schedule was soft surface to carry them or they completely collapse over the last month and a half and then Matt Eberflus gets to face job scrutiny.

Here’s the best, the worst, the softest, the hardest and other notes about this Bears schedule.

Soft Serve

From Oct. 6 through Nov. 10, the Bears face only one team with a better record than they had last year and it was Jacksonville, which was 9-8 and two games better.

They have a bye week in that stretch of games after the Jacksonville game, which is in London.

The Bears’ quarterback and wide receiver DJ Moore are the result of a trade with Carolina and they start the stretch of five games off after losing to the Bears and backup QB Tyson Bagent 13-10 last year in Chicago.

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Three of the five teams in this stretch— Carolina, New England and Washington —have new coaches and the Patriots and Commanders have rookie quarterbacks.

In this stretch they playing three 4-13 teams from last year and a 2-15 team with the Jaguars (9-8) the only winning team in that stretch.

If the Bears stay around .500 through the first six games, they can make up plenty of ground in this stretch and make it so the gauntlet they face at season’s end can’t take them down.

The Gauntlet

It begins Nov. 17 with the first Packers game. They face five playoff teams in their final eight games. Six of the final eight are all of their division games.

The NFC North is getting plenty of attention as possibly one of the league’s best groupings, so the Bears’ finish has the potential to be a nightmare. However, if they gain momentum from their earlier games in a schedule that is third-easiest based on last year’s records, then they could get through into the playoffs.

The Dec. 8 game at San Francisco might be their toughest game of the year. They usually struggle with games on the West Coast, anyway. Although they won their last two over the 49ers on the road, they haven’t played out there since 2018 and before those two wins they had lost six in a row on the road to San Francisco. The two Packers games are in this stretch and their current 10-game losing streak to the Packers is their longest losing streak in that primordial rivalry. They split with the Lions last year but it’s a different dynamic, as the Lions had trouble matching up last year against Justin Fields’ running and the Bears’ zone defense. The Vikings played two tight games against the Bears last year and regardless of who the quarterback is for either team, these games seem to be tight, tough battles.

A Dish Served Cold

Every team has revenge games. The Bears will have a few this year when they can say “how do you like me now?”

Matt Eberflus faces the Colts in Week 3. He came to the Bears from Indy as defensive coordinator. It’s the first time he’s faced them.

DJ Moore didn’t have great production last year in his first game against his old team, with five catches for 58 yards. He had Bagent throwing the passes, which may have made a difference. He even mentioned during the offseason how he’d like to have a better game against Carolina.

Montez Sweat goes against the team that traded him to the Bears last season.

Guard Nate Davis and defensive end DeMarcus Walker face their old team in the opener with Tennessee.

Tight end Gerald Everett and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron will face their old teams when they go up against the Rams in Week 4 and Seahawks in Week 17.

Served Really Cold

The two NFC North teams that play in domes have to come to Chicago for games in December. There was a time when they were good in cold weather. Jared Goff is miserable in cold weather and played a bad game last year in Chicago in moderately chilly whether.

Roller Coaster

The stretch of games when the Bears play three straight away from Chicago, three straight at home, then three straight away again is strange, but it does encompass some of their easier games and a few of the games from the tougher part of their schedule at the end.

Caleb Watch

Caleb Williams goes against only two of the best 11 teams at limiting passing yards last season. One of those was Carolina, which gave up so few passing yards because every opponent ran it down their throats and didn’t waste time passing.

The Bears face only one team in the top 10 in interceptions last year. That was the 49ers. They’re playing five games against teams in the bottom eight in interceptions.

 Tables Turned

The Bears haven’t exactly fared well against the Rams recently, with three straight losses. However, their Week 4 opponent comes to Chicago this time. L.A. has lost three straight in Chicago.

Young Guns

The No. 1 pick in the draft faces the No. 2 (Jayden Daniels, Washington), No. 3 (Drake Maye, Patriots) and possibly the fifth QB drafted this year at No. 10, Minnesota’s JJ McCarthy. In addition, they’re facing the first pick from last year (Carolina’s Young), the second QB taken last year (Houston’s Stroud) and  and the third QB taken (No. 4 overall, Colts’ Anthony Richardson).

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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Gene Chamberlain

GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher 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.