Lost in the aftermath of the bombshell reporting of Caleb Williams' thought process prior to being selected by the Chicago Bears in the 2024 NFL Draft was that the 2025 NFL Schedule was released on Wednesday.
A sign that Williams can put the mess that was his rookie season with Matt Eberflus and Shane Waldron behind him, and focus on what is next for the 2025 season with Ben Johnson as his head coach.
Wth Johnson leading the team, the NFL clearly thinks the Bears will be entertaining during the 2025 season. As it stands, the Bears have five standalone games during the 2025 season. Given the history of the Bears in standalone games, Bears fans may view that as the biggest disadvantage of the 2025 schedule. However, there is one that is far more egregious.
The Bears have an incredibly difficult road schedule, but through the first 11 weeks of the season, their road schedule is only better than the Detroit Lions.
Through the first 11 weeks of the season, among the road games are the Detroit Lions, Washington Commanders, back-to-back games against the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals, and a trip to play the Minnesota Vikings in Week 11. That isn't an ideal stretch of games for a Bears team that will be installing a new regime with Johnson as their head coach.
Making things even worse is that the Green Bay Packers have a cakewalk road schedule through the first 11 weeks of the season. For the Packers, through Week 11, their road games include stops against the Cleveland Browns, Arizona Cardinals, Pittsburgh Steelers, and New York Giants. It's no wonder that
The Bears will be put to a test early, and if they have the expectation of making the playoffs, they will need to survive the gauntlet that is their road games through the early parts of the season. Even then, that will just prepare the Bears for the end of their season where they play the Packers two times in the span of three weeks.