(670 The Score) The Bears will open up the regular season at the Detroit Lions on Sept. 13, we learned as the NFL on Thursday evening released its full schedule for 2020.
Chicago will then close the regular season by hosting Green Bay on Jan. 3. In between, how will it all play out?
Only time will tell, but for now, we can analyze the path that awaits the Bears. With the schedule released, we asked three of our 670 hosts to chime in with their immediate reaction. Here's what David Haugh, Danny Parkins and Joe Ostrowski had to say.
What was your biggest takeaway from the Bears' schedule?
Haugh: The schedule offers the Bears a chance to start fast and to gain confidence early with a new quarterback facing three teams coming off losing seasons. The schedule is also structured in a way that provides the Bears an opportunity for a 10-win season. A brutal four-game stretch in November against the Saints, Titans, Vikings and Packers – who were all playoff teams in 2019 – will test the Bears' mettle, and we'll see how long their early season momentum lasts. But that's a better time to play those opponents than in September.
Parkins: The Bears didn't play like a team worthy of 25% of their games being on national television, but Khalil Mack, the third-biggest media market and some juicy opponents leads to a lot of media attention.
Ostrowski: Can we please stop with the discussion everywhere about the Bears' soft early schedule? Yes, their first six opponents were sub-.500 teams in 2019, but the Colts and Bucs should be vastly improved — and this is a worst-to-first league. The Bears' matchups in Weeks 7-12 are stacked against opponents that Vegas projects to be winning teams, including three primetime matchups. Get out of there with a 3-2 or better record, and we'll be talking playoffs for the Bears.
Which game is most intriguing in your mind?
Haugh: You could make many football arguments for games against NFC North rivals in the Packers and Vikings. Or you could point to the Saints and Titans as the best tests of how legitimate the 2020 Bears will be. But the date circled most indelibly on my calendar is Oct. 8, when the camera phones will be clicking as Tom Brady makes history on the lakefront and his Buccaneers come to Soldier Field. There's a reason that game will be played on a Thursday night -- so the entire league can watch the greatest quarterback ever play in America's best football city in primetime.
Parkins: I feel like the only answer is Week 5 -- a home matchup against Brady and the Bucs on Thursday Night Football. Is the Hall of Famer in a groove with his new teammates? Or can the Bears take advantage of a big name who's over the hill?
Ostrowski: The Bears' game against the Packers at Lambeau Field on Nov. 29 is fascinating not only because it's one of two matchups against Green Bay in six weeks, but it's off Chicago's bye. Off their bye week in 2019, the Bears were getting trounced by as many as 26 points in the fourth quarter of a loss to the Saints and went on to drop four of five games after the off week. In 2018, two of the Bears' four losses occurred right after the bye -- to the Dolphins and the Patriots.
What do you view as a potential make-or-break game/stretch for the Bears?
Haugh: People will point to November as the most challenging four-game stretch, and it's hard to argue. But to me, the first month will determine how good the Bears will be and whether they can re-establish credibility after an 8-8 season that felt like 4-12. Let's face it -- the Lions, Giants, Falcons and Colts all represent winnable games for the Bears. And what better way for either a new quarterback in Nick Foles or a quarterback seeking confidence in Mitchell Trubisky to find his footing than stacking victories early in the season, regardless of the opponent. My prediction is the Bears go 10-6.
Parkins: Usually it's not one game that's a turning point, but five of the Bears' last seven games are in the division. So there's no way the Bears have a successful season if they don't play well down the stretch.
Ostrowski: The penultimate contest of the regular season is expected to be against the Bears' weakest opponent -- the Jaguars. The Nick Foles, Allen Robinson and John DeFilippo revenge chatter will be out of control at Jacksonville in Week 16. The Jaguars could be tanking for Trevor Lawrence, and a loss could cost the Bears a playoff spot.
