Hopefully the Bears actually get 9 games at Soldier Field in 2026, but I would not be surprised if one ends up as an International game (like vs Jacksonville). 8 games against 2025 playoff teams (one being CAR). They have 5 tough non-divisional games (SEA, JAX, BUF, NE, and PHI), what I see as 3 easy games (NO, NYJ, and MIA), and 3 other games they should be favored in (TB, ATL, and CAR). 

I am thinking 4-2 in the Division. They are not losing to MIN with McCarthy, I think they split vs GB and DET next year at a minimum. No way DET wins 4 straight against Johnson. 3-0 in easy games, 2-1 in the other games makes you 9-3 with the 5 tough games. If you go 2-3 you're back to 11 wins, go 3-2, you are a 12-win team. So 10-12 seems like a fair range. 3 of the tough games are at home, which helps.

If this offense takes the normal 2nd year leap, and the defense just improves marginally, 10-12 wins should become the standard regardless of the schedule. 

I could see 7-2 at home, 4-4 on the road as a fair projection

HOME

Detroit Lions 9-8 - W
*Green Bay Packers 9-7-1 - W
Minnesota Vikings 9-8 - W
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 8-9 - W
*Philadelphia Eagles 11-6 - W
*Jacksonville Jaguars 13-4 - L
New York Jets 3-14 - W
*New England Patriots 14-3 - L
New Orleans Saints 6-11 - W

AWAY

Detroit Lions 9-8 - L
*Green Bay Packers 9-7-1 - L
Minnesota Vikings 9-8 - W
*Buffalo Bills 12-5 - L
Miami Dolphins 7-10 - W
Atlanta Falcons 8-9 - W
*Carolina Panthers 8-9 - W
*Seattle Seahawks 14-3 - L

49 minutes ago, adam said:

Hopefully the Bears actually get 9 games at Soldier Field in 2026, but I would not be surprised if one ends up as an International game (like vs Jacksonville). 8 games against 2025 playoff teams (one being CAR). They have 5 tough non-divisional games (SEA, JAX, BUF, NE, and PHI), what I see as 3 easy games (NO, NYJ, and MIA), and 3 other games they should be favored in (TB, ATL, and CAR). 

I am thinking 4-2 in the Division. They are not losing to MIN with McCarthy, I think they split vs GB and DET next year at a minimum. No way DET wins 4 straight against Johnson. 3-0 in easy games, 2-1 in the other games makes you 9-3 with the 5 tough games. If you go 2-3 you're back to 11 wins, go 3-2, you are a 12-win team. So 10-12 seems like a fair range. 3 of the tough games are at home, which helps.

If this offense takes the normal 2nd year leap, and the defense just improves marginally, 10-12 wins should become the standard regardless of the schedule. 

I could see 7-2 at home, 4-4 on the road as a fair projection

HOME

Detroit Lions 9-8 - W
*Green Bay Packers 9-7-1 - W
Minnesota Vikings 9-8 - W
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 8-9 - W
*Philadelphia Eagles 11-6 - W
*Jacksonville Jaguars 13-4 - L
New York Jets 3-14 - W
*New England Patriots 14-3 - L
New Orleans Saints 6-11 - W

AWAY

Detroit Lions 9-8 - L
*Green Bay Packers 9-7-1 - L
Minnesota Vikings 9-8 - W
*Buffalo Bills 12-5 - L
Miami Dolphins 7-10 - W
Atlanta Falcons 8-9 - W
*Carolina Panthers 8-9 - W
*Seattle Seahawks 14-3 - L

I see the macro view as the offense will take strides to be better and I'd hope the defense would also be better, but I'd also expect turnovers to come back, which might mean as a whole the defense stands par for the course but in a more sustainable way...with an improved defense overall offsetting loss of the ball bouncing there way a few times...than we see a step or two up on the offense and more consistent high end offensive play.  Tougher competition too...which might mean....11/12 wins against tougher competition looks similar in record to what we did this year...but as a stronger, better positioned team for the long-run.  

But that is my last and only post on next year until this season ends...and hopefully that isn't until they are holding the lombardi trophy

29 minutes ago, DABEARSDABOMB said:

I see the macro view as the offense will take strides to be better and I'd hope the defense would also be better, but I'd also expect turnovers to come back, which might mean as a whole the defense stands par for the course but in a more sustainable way...with an improved defense overall offsetting loss of the ball bouncing there way a few times...than we see a step or two up on the offense and more consistent high end offensive play.  Tougher competition too...which might mean....11/12 wins against tougher competition looks similar in record to what we did this year...but as a stronger, better positioned team for the long-run.  

But that is my last and only post on next year until this season ends...and hopefully that isn't until they are holding the lombardi trophy

I agree, we can hold off until we are discussing what to do at pick 32.

Coming with first in the division gets us more winning teams. We have the worst schedule last year in winning percentage for teams as a bad team. I'll take what being better gives us.

14 hours ago, Stinger226 said:

Coming with first in the division gets us more winning teams. We have the worst schedule last year in winning percentage for teams as a bad team. I'll take what being better gives us.

I'm with you. 

On a side note: we were supposed to get an easier schedule, but ended playing the hardest on the NFL.  Goes to show how quickly things can change.

I like a hard schedule. Makes you ready for the playoffs.

Looking at this again with some of the playoffs complete, the biggest challenges will be SEA and NE, and BUF in BUF. JAX in CHI will be a solid matchup.

If you consider SEA, NE, JAX, BUF, and PHI as top 10 teams, that is 5 games against top 10 teams, 6 divisional games (always tough), 4 meh teams, and 2 bad teams. So 5, 6, 6, is a pretty even distribution.

I just hope they get a later bye.
 

Outside of the division, the Bears top QBs they will face will be: Allen, Maye, and Lawrence with 2 of those games at home. I kinda like that.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Mayfield
Philadelphia Eagles - Hurts
Jacksonville Jaguars - Lawrence
New York Jets - Rookie?
New England Patriots - Maye
New Orleans Saints - Shough
Buffalo Bills - Allen
Miami Dolphins - Tua?
Atlanta Falcons - Penix/Cousins?
Carolina Panthers - Young
Seattle Seahawks - Darnold

Every year our schedule looks bad. The better you are the more chances you have to play better teams. I think we split in the division and win all our home games. So is that 8-9 wins? Then lose to a few big boys on the road and finish with 11 -12 wins. Now if Caleb breakout next year happens, I can see maybe 13 -14 wins. They will be saying oh crap, we have to play the bear's.

37 minutes ago, Stinger226 said:

Every year our schedule looks bad. The better you are the more chances you have to play better teams. I think we split in the division and win all our home games. So is that 8-9 wins? Then lose to a few big boys on the road and finish with 11 -12 wins. Now if Caleb breakout next year happens, I can see maybe 13 -14 wins. They will be saying oh crap, we have to play the bear's.

They need to get a defense to have a shot of repeating, especially winning the top/#1 schedule.  We may have a good offense, but cannot rely on 4th qtr heroics every game especially against better opponents. Receivers need to catch and Caleb needs to read the field like he does with 2-3 minutes left. 

9 minutes ago, ASHKUM BEAR said:

They need to get a defense to have a shot of repeating, especially winning the top/#1 schedule.  We may have a good offense, but cannot rely on 4th qtr heroics every game especially against better opponents. Receivers need to catch and Caleb needs to read the field like he does with 2-3 minutes left. 

Totally agree, the OL sucked last year and fixed it. Got help on defense but injuries derailed any improvement. 

When looking at the future look at our roster as is before adding. This offense is almost intact besides the LT question. Without subtractions is a Caleb breakout year, top 3 offense.  McFadden, Newman, Stromberg, Kiran and Theo align for good depth. 

We will see what happens on the defense. With players coming back from health, we need two Ss and a DT. They will address those positions in the draft. They may add free agents and a big splash depending on what they want to do. I think they fix everything going into next year.