Da Bears! In reality this isn’t completely to get in the good graces of the boss. We’ve known each other since 6th grade. We were the best man in each other’s weddings. We visited each other in the hospital when our first kids were born. We’ve been around the block a few times. I don’t need to kiss his rear end, we get to be honest with each other. But a strange thing about our friendship is that if we don’t share a rooting interest in a team like our Washington Capitals, we’ve basically adopted the other’s favorite as teams to root for. He cheers for my WVU Mountaineers and his Florida State Seminoles are my team too. You don’t want to hate your best buddy’s teams. You don’t want to have some sort of friction between you. Getting to cheer and celebrate with your buddy makes your friendship even better. Greg has to be the biggest Chicago Bears fan I know. That’s why Motion Sports is so heavily Bears leaning. Don’t like it? Go start your own Steelers or Packers based site, and like those teams your sites will suck. It’s pretty cool to see a bunch of Bears fans run into each other in the wild. There’s an automatic bond amongst them. It’s true of most fan bases that have long histories like the Bears. I’m not Bob Swerski or Carl Wollaraki. Outside of WVU I don’t have a team I’ve rooted on my whole life and can’t really go to any city in the country and find a bar where my team’s game will be featured on a Sunday. I just finished watching the 2026-27 NFL schedule release. This is the first time in my life I’ve ever watched it. In years past I’ve just went online the next day and looked for the things that I was most interested in. But my kid adopted the Baltimore Ravens as her team a couple years back and since I never had a NFL team to call ‘my team’ I decided that the Ravens were now my team. Because of this we’ve both been looking forward to schedule release day to see what our Ravens year would look like. My stories tend to wander all over the place to get to an eventual point. Get used to it. So instead of dissecting the Ravens schedule I want to talk a little Chicago Bears. It’ll make the boss happy. As long as I say Ditka is the 2nd most important human ever behind only Jesus, every NFL award should be called the Walter Payton award, and I can see Caleb Williams winning the next 10-15 Super Bowls and MVP awards. Instead of a Ravens schedule and season breakdown I want to dive into what the upcoming season could be like for the Bears. Last season Chicago could have been called the Cardiac Bears as 8 of their wins were by less than a touchdown including their wild win over the hated Packers in the first round of the playoffs before losing in OT to the Rams. Caleb Williams led a never-say-die offense and a defense that to me was at its best in the 4th quarter of games. Winning the NFC North last season where every team finished above .500 took every bit of magic they could muster but it’s not called the Black and Blue division because teams play with their best manners. In the North you are punched in the face over and over and over and over. The Bears gave out one more bloody nose than they got and that’s why they were the division champs. Winning the division last year only means the Lions, Vikings, and Packers will come even harder at the Bears this upcoming season. The Vikings probably are considered the weakest in the North but they aren’t going to roll over for anyone. Two years ago the Lions seemed unstoppable before playing their worst game of the year at home in the playoffs against Washington. Then there’s always the specter of Green Bay that has lorded over the division for the better part of 3 decades. As I look at Chicago’s schedule there’s 6 games right off the bat I’m tuning in for, any of those North vs North game can be considered must see TV. And at a quick glance 13 out of the 17 Bears games this year at least have a bit of intrigue to me. For the real Bears fans I know you’ll be tuned in for all 17 games next year but for me here’s a bit on why I say that 13 Chicago games are top tier of that weekend’s games *Week1 @Carolina-The Panthers won the NFC South last year and hope to build on that success. Opening the season on the road I think lets Chicago escape some pressure opening week. Travel to Charlotte, spend that time bonding and preparing yourselves for the long season, and win against and inferior opponent setting the stage for success. *Week 2 vs Minnesota-Division game #1. The Vikings have the most question marks in the division and at home against another team you should beat Chicago just need to do their business and they should be 2-0. *Week 3 vs Philadelphia-Much like the NFC North, the East could turn into a dog fight and you’ll have two teams playing in primetime on Monday night. Both the Eagles and Bears want to win their divisions again and have their sights set on bigger goals. And this just happens to be a Monday Night Football game. It could be one for the ages. *Week 5 @Green Bay-Division game #2, against your most hated rival. Side note here, wouldn’t we all prefer to see this game in November or December? But as a player wouldn’t you prefer to play them in October before the tundra freezes? This 4:25 game is the Fox game of the week because of course it should be. Tough to go to Lambeau as always but it’s early enough that a loss isn’t a killer but what if they go steal one up there? If I said the Bears could be 4-1 after 5 weeks with 2 division wins including one at Green Bay the questions about Caleb and Ben Johnson and the team and the toughest schedule would start going away and talk of them being a NFC favorite would intensify. *Week 6 @Atlanta-This game screams to me ‘TAKE THE OVER’. That’s why I’m gonna pay this game more attention than you might hear others say it deserves. Plus I think Atlanta with a healthy Michael Penix Jr is a contender in the NFC South. Might be me projecting on the Falcons but I dig Penix and if the Falcons are improved having 3 teams challenging for the South makes the whole NFL better. *Week 7 vs New England-Anyone dissecting the NFL schedule has to say this is a marquee game. The NFL itself does by making this Thursday night primetime on Amazon Prime. Personally, I’m not a believer in the Patriots. They looked severely outclassed in the Super Bowl and all the offseason noise around Mike Vrabel has to in some way infect that locker room. But if it doesn’t, if Vrable has his team locked in because he’s a coach capable of that the Patriots and Bills could be a slobber-knocker in the AFC North. So Chicago is going to have to bring their A game to primetime on a short week. Being at Soldier Field helps the Bears too. *Week 8 @Seattle-Winning your division gets you the other division winners in your conference and this is the last of those games for Chicago. Another primetime game but on the road this time in one of the most difficult stadiums in the league. Third road game in four weeks. Again this is your chance to show the rest of the NFC what you are made of. I’m not hearing a lot about Seattle defending their Super Bowl title. I don’t think they were that respected last year and it seems there’s more of that this season. *Week 12 @Detroit- Division game #3. This time it’s the Lions traditional Thanksgiving day game. When the Bears and Lions get together on Thanksgiving the nation is treated to something great just like the meal you are getting ready for. All that pomp and circumstance is extra stuffing for a matchup that could have a 7 or 8 win Bears team getting the Lions best shot as they look to position themselves to make a push to win the North. *Week 15 @Bills-Primetime again. Saturday this time. And another tough place to play. And December in Buffalo. This game has all the makings of an instant classic. Could have game time temps in the teens or less. Maybe some snow blowing around too. And it could be a point in Buffalo’s season they are looking to nearly clinch the AFC North. I might have to find me a Bears bar locally and enjoy the game with a rabid bunch of Bears fans. *Week 16 vs Green Bay-Division game #4. Christmas day on Netflix now. This is the 7th time of the season with Chicago being the only game on TV. Home here against the hated Packers. Christmas Day is supposed to be about love and happiness. Maybe the NFL made a mistake scheduling this game for Christmas. There will be no love shown on the field. If the season has gone the way Bears fans want they could be looking at nearly closing out the North. *Week 17 vs Lions-Division game #5. Here’s the middle of three straight NFC North games to close out the season. This is where the people doing the NFL scheduling really show you they know what they are doing. Let’s say now, worst case, things didn’t go well for the Bears this season and they have been eliminated from the postseason(I don’t think that will be the case) and the Lions are looking to take the North now. The Bears won’t simply roll over in front of the home crowd. Now in my eyes the most likely scenario here is that the winner is playoff bound and the loser will be needing help. *Week 18 @Minnesota-Let’s finish the season with division game #6. Hat tip again to NFL schedule makers. All division games to finish the regular season. I think there are lots of teams capable of making the postseason and we could have the tightest season ever. I think most of the week 18 games will have playoff implications. I don’t really see anyone running away in any division. So the Bears in Minnesota closing it all out against the Vikings. Maybe this game gets the primetime Sunday night game and it be a classic like last year’s Ravens/Steelers game. *One last Bears note here. In the last 8 weeks of their season, late November/December/early January, 4 home games and 4 road games. You know the home games will be cold, the Bears are used to the cold and the weather. Three of the visitors are souther teams or play in domes. Of the 4 roadies, they have that trip to Buffalo which could have weather impact it, but the of the other 3, one is in beautiful Miami and 2 are played in domes. I call that a favorable schedule to close their season out I know there’s a ton of ‘what if’s’ loaded in my analysis. It’s NFL schedule release day, of course it’s all speculation. But I’m not buying in to all the doom and gloom that seems to be coming the Bears way for the season. I think they showed a lot last year and Caleb Williams is a year more experienced now, as is the rest of a younger team. I think the NFC North is theirs to win again. The Vikings have the most questions in the division. The Lions have to prove they can be consistent. The Packers are carrying the most expectations as I think most consider them the favorites. So overlook the Bears at your own peril, but I expect at worst a Wild Card Weekend game at Soldier Field.