While the Chicago Bears certainly don't have the longest playoff drought, four years is long enough.
It's never good to be in a playoff drought conversation with teams such as the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints. With the hire of new head coach Ben Johnson and a completely retooled roster, now seems like the perfect season for the Bears to get back to the promised land. According to some sportsbooks and Garrett Podell of CBS Sports, the Bears have as good a chance as any to end their playoff drought.
According to DraftKings Sportsbook, the Bears have pretty good playoff odds at +150. While those odds do indicate that the sportsbook believes the Bears are more likely to miss the playoffs than make it, those odds without a single snap being played with a completely new team show just how much Vegas loves the Bears.
Looking at Chicago's schedule, it's hard not to be excited about the Bears this season. Even if the Bears see marginal improvement, they should make the playoffs. Heck, you could easily make a case a competent coach gets them there last year.
In 2024, the Bears started 4-2 even after tough losses on the road at Houston and at Indianapolis. Few would argue that the Bears couldn't or shouldn't have won that game against the Colts. Although they had their bumps along the way, a simple, correctly played Hail Mary against the Washington Commanders sees them win that game. If not for a blocked field goal, the Bears would have beaten the Green Bay Packers in Week 11. However, a Matt Eberflus special in clock management saw the Bears fall to the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving, and a Thomas Brown disaster in Week 17 led to another loss.
While any team in the league can play the "shoulda coulda woulda" game, there is little doubt that three results could've been directly overturned by one single play. Suddenly, that turns a 5-12 Bears record into a 8-9 record. For as mediocre as that sounds, that would've been just three games out of a playoff spot.
This year, the Bears should see drastic improvement under Johnson. With an offensive line that is probably the best in the league, two new offensive playmakers in Colston Loveland and Luther Burden III, and the same stifling defense as last year, you'd be hard pressed to find a team more likely to end their playoff drought than the Chicago Bears. When they do, don't say we didn't tell you so.
Weaker NFC North Helps Chicago
The biggest reason to keep an eye on the Bears this season is that they may be the only team in the NFC North that didn't get worse. For the Lions, losing both offensive and defensive coordinators is a considerable blow. Add in the abrupt early retirement of Frank Ragnow on the offensive line, and nobody truly knows what this team will look like this year on either side of the ball.
As for the Minnesota Vikings, they may have gotten better, but it's impossible to judge them without seeing how quarterback J.J. McCarthy plays. Sure, he's had time to learn the offense and has a lot of weapons surrounding him, but one injury to Justin Jefferson or Aaron Jones, and their season is on life support. Receiver Jordan Addison's possible suspension this season will certainly not help matters either.
As for "that" team up north, they took an offensive tackle in the second round even when they knew star cornerback Jaire Alexander was likely gone for good. With one of the thinnest secondaries in the league and with a weaker defensive line than last year, the Packers will likely see a healthy amount of regression.
Read more: Core of Bears' offseason plan gets lofty place in Pro Football Focus ranking
Will the Bears End Their Drought?
At the end of the day, the question still remains: Will the Bears start to undo years of pain this season? Assuming they can win at least three of six divisional games, they'd probably just need to win seven of the remaining 11 games on the schedule to have a good shot. Call me an optimist, but I think you can pencil the Chicago Bears in for the 2025 NFL Playoffs.