The Chicago Bears managed to navigate their 2020 schedule just well enough to sneak into the playoffs. All things considered, it was pretty favorable. Just seven of their games played were against current playoff teams. That’s a good thing too because the Bears were an ugly 1-6 in those games. Their only win coming in that nailbiter against Tampa Bay back in October.
Can they somehow change the narrative this weekend in New Orleans. They did take the Saints to overtime in their last meeting this year. Of course, the Saints were a bit banged up at the time and the Bears were at home. This time it’ll be on the fast turf of the Superdome with the Saints healthy and Chicago being the beat-up team. Suffice to say after watching that Packers game it’s not looking great.
This is why a lot of people are already looking towards 2021.
That may bring them little comfort though. With the conclusion of the regular season, the Bears now have a picture of which teams they will be playing next year. In addition to their customary six games against divisional foes, they’ll also be playing the NFC West and AFC North divisions along with the equal qualifiers from the AFC West and NFC South.
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- Arizona
- San Francisco
- Baltimore
- Cincinnati
- New York Giants
- Green Bay
- Minnesota
- Detroit
Away:
- Los Angeles Chargers
- Seattle
- Pittsburgh
- Cleveland
- Tampa Bay
- Green Bay
- Minnesota
- Detroit
For those who need a sobering dose of reality? Six of those opponents are currently in the playoffs. Those that aren’t like Los Angeles, Arizona and Detroit feature dynamic quarterbacks that are sure to give the Bears defense problems.
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Chicago Bears could be looking at a rough year in 2021
People will say it’s way too early to make such a proclamation. Nobody can say how hard a schedule is several months away. Things can change. This is true. That being said, it’s not so much the schedule itself but how different this Bears team might look when they confront it next season. As of now, they’re projected to have 30 pending free agents. Among them include star receiver Allen Robinson and quarterback Mitch Trubisky.
Not only that but they also could be searching for cap space, which may require them to make sacrifices on defense. A defense that has already started to show signs of age. So to recap. The Bears could lose their best offensive weapons, see a noticeable decline on defense and have to search for a new quarterback in the same offseason.
It’s really hard for a team to get better under those conditions.
Maybe GM Ryan Pace works some magic in the draft. Maybe he retools the defense with little drop-off and maybe he finally secures a quarterback the team can trust. Those are a lot of big ifs. The Chicago Bears don’t have a strong history of pulling off such miracles. It’s quite possible fans could be looking at a down season in 2021. The next few months will certainly determine a lot.