Chicago Bears Schedule Ranked the Toughest in the NFL

The Chicago Bears schedule is what it is. The players know this and the coaches know it. Their job is to win football games. They have no control over how they're laid out and who the opponents will be. That duty falls to the NFL itself. Based on the way things are shaping up, 2019 is going to be a far greater challenge for this young team than 2018 was. Given their Super Bowl aspirations, it feels like the perfect test.

CBS Sports analyst John Breech undertook a project recently. He used a numbers-crunching system to determine a ranking for every team schedule in the NFL this year. The obvious idea was to figure out who had the easiest road to Miami, by checking out NFL Betting PA, and who would have to wage war just to get there. Sure enough, after all the adding, the Bears appear to be the team that got the short end of the proverbial stick.

"The NFL clearly doesn't care that the Bears are celebrating their 100th anniversary this season, because Chicago got handed the most brutal schedule in the league this year. After going 12-4 last season, the Bears are almost certainly going to have a worse record this year, mostly because that's what pretty much happens to every team following a year where they go 12-4. From 2015 to 2017, 13 teams went 12-4 or better and out of those 13 teams, 12 of them had a worse record the next season. Of course, none of this is stopping Bears fans from betting big money on their team to win the Super Bowl this year.

Schedule difficulty rating: 110.875"

Chicago Bears schedule will determine if they're real or not

Professional wrestling legend Ric Flair always had a phenomenal saying. "To be the man, you gotta beat the man." In other words, if the Bears want to be champions as they've loudly proclaimed for months, they'll have to prove it. If they can't navigate a tough schedule then they clearly aren't a good enough team to win the Super Bowl. True championship teams aren't overpowered by one schedule or another. They just win games.

Chicago certainly appears to have a stacked deck against them. Six opponents they'll face this year were in the playoffs last season. Three of them were in the conference championship games (Rams, Saints, and Chiefs). This doesn't include the Green Bay Packers or Minnesota Vikings. Two teams who are always difficult rivals. Not to mention the New York Giants who defeated them last year.

Nothing about this schedule looks easy. One thing will be certain though. If the Bears do reach the postseason again this year, they will be a battle-tested team.