Blame has been showered in all directions for what amounts to another lost season in Chicago football. With five games left the absolute best the Bears can hope for is an 8-8 finish. Given the injuries they’re dealing with and pitiful state of their coaching staff, it feels like every game down the stretch will be a challenge. Yet even amidst the carnage, fans still haven’t quite grasped how challenging the Chicago Bears 2017 schedule ended up being.
Keep in mind this rebuilding team already suffered through what was one of the hardest runs in 2016. NFL experts assured fans all off-season that the 2017 slate would ease up. Truth be told that was a lie. In fact it was the complete opposite of the truth. The Bears actually ended up with one of the most difficult schedules seen in the NFL for over eight decades.
No that is not a joke. According to the stat gurus, this is something the NFL hasn’t seen is a Bears generation long past were playing the game.
Chicago Bears 2017 schedule showing shades of 1925
The #Bears are the first NFL team since the 1925 Bears to play each of their first 11 games of a season against teams that entered the game with a .500 record or better. On Sunday the 49ers will represent Chicago’s first opponent with a below .500 record entering the game.
— ChiBearsPR (@ChiBearsPR) December 1, 2017
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The 1925 Bears played 17 games that year. They managed to go 9-5-3 but were also shut out six times in the process. Seven of the 10 total opponents they face finished the year with winning records. This included two games against the eventual champion Chicago Cardinals. For the 2017 Bears, it hasn’t been much better.
They’ve played five of the six best teams in the NFC this season and a team (Pittsburgh) who is tied for the best record in the AFC. That’s not counting Detroit and Baltimore who are both 6-5 on the year. Asking the Bears to navigate that schedule with a rookie quarterback and poor coaching was almost predestined to fail.
Maybe with a fresh start in 2018 the football gods will give them a break for once.
