Bear Digest

Ranking the Toughest Five Games on 2024 Bears Schedule

Analysis: Opponents alone do not constitute a difficult game as there are many other factors to consider when weighing degree of difficulty on this Bears schedule.

Gene Chamberlain

Sep 11, 2022; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Bears defensive end Dominique Robinson (91) makes the
Sep 11, 2022; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Bears defensive end Dominique Robinson (91) makes the / Mike Dinovo-USA TODAY Sports
In this story:

A schedule offering great opportunity early also presents obstacles to the Bears.

On balance, however, the schedule is softer than the one many teams face and definitely easier than the one other NFC North teams play.

Based on opponents' winning percentages alone, the Packers have the NFL's fourth-toughest schedule and the Lions the 11th toughest. Even Minnesota's is more difficult.

The Bears have the third easiest overall in terms of opposing winning percentage from last year, and considering how they play many of the weaker teams they'll face early in the season, it could be a catalyst for getting them into contention for a playoff berth of some type.


Bears cupcakes early include Tennessee, Washington, Carolina, New England and Arizona all before the cold sets in in Chicago, and this gives Caleb Williams a chance to get his feet wet first before plunging into the NFC North later.

The Bears also have the scheduled disruption of playing prime time games only three times, while Detroit must do it five times.

Green Bay has five as well, but four of them come in consecutive weeks during the final six games.

All of this matters over the course of 17 games.

The weak Bears schedule is what happens in the NFL when a team finishes last in its division. The league forces parity.

THE STUNNING PREDICTION BY ONE NETWORK INSIDER ABOUT THE BEARS

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THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF THIS BEARS SCHEDULE

BREAKING DOWN BEARS ROSTER: DEFENSIVE LINE NEEDS HELP BADLY

Still, even teams with weak schedule have difficult games. Here are the five most difficult Bears games ranked based on opponent, setting and the time it falls in the schedule.

5. At Minnesota Vikings, Dec. 16

A Monday Night Football game with a division rival rates as a tough call. It came down to this one or the L.A. Rams as No. 5. The road setting for Williams gets the call at No. 5. The Rams game is a home game and the Bears have beaten them three straight in Chicago. The Bears won five straight home games last year. The Week 4 game will no doubt be difficult, but the Rams no longer have Aaron Donald terrorizing offenses, unless he makes a quick reversal from retirement and returns. Matthew Stafford is another year older. The Rams have been smart in the way they've rebuilt but they're not at an elite level team in terms of talent like San Francisco or Detroit. The reason this game rates tougher is the respect coordinator Brian Flores' defensive scheme commands. All quarterbacks have a tough time figuring out all the blitzes, and a rookie facing that pressure, playing in the noisy dome in front of a jacked-up Monday night crowd at Minnesota is going to put tons of pressure on Williams, who likes to hold the ball too long anyway.

4. At Green Bay Packers, Jan. 4/5

All Packer games are big but the fact this is the season finale could make it huge. Then again, it might be meaningless as far as anyone knows at this point and only have significance in terms of the rivalry. It's Williams' first trip across the cheese border. The Packers might be the second-best team in the division, or they might have simply caught fire at the right time last year. That's also tough to call because they didn't beat a stack of great opponents to go from 6-8 to the playoffs, until they beat the Cowboys. After losing to a backup Giants QB and Tampa Bay, they managed to squeak out a win over a Carolina team with two wins, then beat two seven-win teams—the Bears and Minnesota. And no one can be certain what their playoff win meant because Dallas and Dak Prescott regularly disappoint in postseason. Simply based on rivalry and the Bears' current streak of 10 straight losses to the Packers, let's make this an important game.

3. At Houston Texans, Sept. 15

Houston is starving for prime-time exposure. They had one game last year only because it was flexed in for the last game of the season. They were getting one prime-time game a year for several years before this, so the Bears in Week 2 will be walking into a Sunday Night Football ambush. They'll take a rookie QB, starting his second NFL game and first road game into a raucous setting. The Texans have last year's young gun QB of the year, C.J. Stroud, and Williams wants to be the same thing for the Bears this year. It will be a much-hyped game but it's questionable whether, in Week 2, the Bears are ready for Williams' first road start in conditions like this, against a playoff team from last year—especially one with a new weapon in Stefon Diggs.

2. At Detroit Lions, Nov. 28

The Thanksgiving Day game gives the Bears only a few days to prepare for a road battle against the defending division champions. The Lions had a couple of bad offensive game plans in their two games against the Bears last year and for one full game and 56 minutes of another one were totally controlled by the Bears defense. Expect the Lions to realize they need to use their backs more as runners and receivers in those games. Jared Goff kept forcing the issue last year and getting himself in trouble against the Bears with game plans that used the run but didn't stick to it when it worked. The Lions have lost seven straight on Thanksgiving. All but a couple of those came before their resurgence. What prevents this from being the toughest Bears game is the 49ers won the NFC last year and are better, and also the Bears last year showed they could get ready for Thursday games on short notice by beating Carolina and Washington on Thursday. Those were night games, though, and this one is an 11:30 a.m. game, allowing even less time to recover from the previous week.

1. At San Francisco 49ers, Dec. 8

This 3:25 p.m. game is a Bears nightmare on so many levels. First, it's the defending NFC champions. It's also in San Francisco, where the Bears have struggled over the years. They have won two straight there, but both of those came when the 49ers were in rebuilding mode and have since rebuilt and reloaded again. Before that, the Bears had lost six straight there and often in embarrassing fashion. It's a game situated in the middle of a tough stretch of divisional games and that also makes it tough. The Bears play all six of their divisional games in an eight-week stretch at season's end and this one is right in the center of it all. The only positive about it is it comes after a mini-bye weekend because the Bears play Detroit on Thanksgiving in their previous game. This didn't seem to help the Bears last year as they lost both times after their mini-bye. If there's a team the Bears defense doesn't match up well against, it's the 49ers. The Tampa-2 style of defense the Bears utilize is susceptible to offenses throwing to backs and to tight ends under the zone coverage, players who can be physical after making the catch. Also, teams that run the ball well can take advantage of the Bears' tendency to extensively play six or seven men in the box and lean toward five defensive backs. The 49ers, with Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle, can be a problem for Matt Eberflus' scheme.

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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.