Tag: Bears 2020 schedule

Chicago Bears’ 2020 preseason schedule is set

The Bears finalized their 2020 preseason schedule on Friday, which includes games against the Browns, Broncos, 49ers and Titans.

The Chicago Bears finalized their 2020 preseason schedule with dates and times on Friday, which includes home games against the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers, as well as road games against the Denver Broncos and Tennessee Titans.

The Bears will open their preseason slate against the Browns on August 15 before heading to Denver to face the Broncos, who they’ll hold joint practices with, on August 22. Chicago will host San Francisco in the third preseason game — the dress rehearsal game — before closing things out against Tennessee on Sept. 3.

In the past, preseason has meant little to head coach Matt Nagy, in terms of his starters. He’s typically rested his starters while most teams give their starters some preseason reps to get in the swing of things. Well, preseason is going to look different for the Bears following a disappointing 2019 season.

Preseason will mean a little something more this year, as there are several roster battles that are expected to last well into preseason. Most notably, the quarterback competition between Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles, which will dominate offseason talk.

But there will also be competitions to watch at cornerback, safety, right guard, receiver and even kicker. So, unlike over the last two seasons, Bears fans are going to be more interested in how the preseason shakes out.

Here’s a look at the Bears’ 2020 preseason schedule:

Week Date Opponent Time (CT)
1 Sat. 8/15 vs. Cleveland Browns Noon
2 Sat. 8/22 at Denver Broncos 8:05 p.m.
3 Sat. 8/29 vs. San Francisco 49ers Noon
4 Thurs. 9/3 at Tennessee Titans 7:00 p.m.

[vertical-gallery id=445306]

[lawrence-related id=445499,445512,445484,445443]

5 reasons why Bears won’t finish among worst NFL teams in 2020

While the Bears aren’t likely to string together a 12-win season, it’s even more unlikely that they manage to win just three games.

The Chicago Bears aren’t getting much love this offseason, which makes sense considering their disappointing 8-8 season in 2019. But there’s a difference between having reasonable expectations and having a really bad take.

After Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller deemed the Bears the second-worst team in the NFLthe Bears the second-worst team in the NFL, USA Today’s Nate Davis believes that Chicago will finish 3-13 in 2020Chicago will finish 3-13 in 2020.

Which, honestly, is ridiculous. Considering the abundance of issues the Bears had last season — one of the worst offenses in the league, terrible quarterback play, no run game, shoddy offensive line, no tight end production and injuries to some big-name defensive stars — they still managed to finish .500.

While the Bears aren’t likely to string together a 12-win season similar to 2018, it’s even more unlikely that they manage to win just three games.

Here are five reasons why the Bears will finish at or above .500 in 2020.

1. The Bears have one of the best defenses in the NFL

David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

Lost in the disaster that was the Bears offense last season was the impressive showing by Chicago’s defense. While the 2018 unit was a dominant force — leading the NFL in points allowed, takeaways, rushing yards and touchdowns allowed — the 2019 defense was pretty good, as well. They allowed the fourth-fewest points in the league and ranked in the top 10 for passing yards, rushing yards and passing touchdowns allowed. And they accomplished all of this without some key members of their defense for most of the season, including defensive tackle Akiem Hicks and linebacker Danny Trevathan.

While the Bears lost some key depth pieces to free agency this year, including linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski and defensive tackle Nick Williams, they did upgrade at pass rush with former All-Pro Robert Quinn and safety with Tashaun Gipson, as well as snagged what many deemed a top-three cornerback prospect in Jaylon Johnson in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft. There’s a belief that this 2020 defense could even rival the 2018 defense, but they’ll have to prove it. Still, with the Bears returning a dominant defense, there’s no way that translates to just three wins.

[vertical-gallery id=444804]

[lawrence-related id=445484,445443]

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5

2020 Bears schedule: Third quarter breakdown

Let’s take a look at the Bears’ third-quarter games of the 2020 season, including way-too-early game predictions.

The Chicago Bears unveiled their 2020 schedule last week, where we learned exactly when they’ll face their 2020 opponents. While the beginning of the season looks favorable, Chicago faces a difficult stretch in the final nine games.

When looking at the third quarter of the Bears’ 2020 schedule, it continues a difficult stretch for Chicago, who will face three playoff teams from a season ago in their next stretch. The Bears also have three divisional games back-to-back-to-back against the Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions.

Let’s take a look at the Bears’ third-quarter games of the 2020 season, including way-too-early game predictions.

Week 9 | Bears at Titans

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

The Bears kick-off their third quarter with a road contest against the Tennessee Titans, who are coming off an AFC Championship appearance last year. Chicago will have to contend with running back Derrick Henry, who carried the Titans on his back during Tennessee’s postseason run last season. While the Bears have a dominant run defense, they’ll face a test on the road against one of the NFL’s best. This is a game where the Bears defense shouldn’t be expected to win it on their own — they’re going to need some help from Chicago’s offense.

Prediction: Titans 21-20

Check out game-by-game score predictions from around the NFL Wires network:

Buf / Mia / NE / NYJ // Bal / Cin / Cle / Pit // Hou / Ind / Jax / Ten // Den / KC / LV / LAC //// Dal / NYG / Phi / Was // Chi / Det / GB / Min // Atl / Car / NO / TB // Ari / LAR / SF / Sea

[vertical-gallery id=444804]

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4

Bears 2020 schedule: Chicago faces 2019 playoff team in 7 of final 9 games

The first half of Chicago’s schedule is certainly favorable, but they’ll face a difficult stretch in the second half of the 2020 season.

The Chicago Bears have a chance to start the 2020 season strong with a four-game stretch that includes home games against the New York Giants and Indianapolis Colts, as well as away games against the Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons.

In fact, the Bears won’t face a playoff team from a season ago for their first seven games. Although, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will look different with quarterback Tom Brady at the helm.

The first half of Chicago’s schedule is certainly favorable, but they’ll face a difficult stretch in the second half of the 2020 season, where they’ll face a playoff team in seven of their final nine games.

The challenge starts with four straight games against 2019 playoff teams, including home games against the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings, as well as road games against the Green Bay Packers and Tennessee Titans. They’ll also face the Houston Texans in Week 14.

Chicago will face their two divisional foes in Green Bay and Minnesota — both of which made the playoffs in 2019 — twice each in the final nine games.

Here’s how the Bears’ 2020 schedule breaks down:

Week Date Opponent Time (CT)
1 Sept. 13 at Detroit Lions 12:00 p.m.
2 Sept. 20 vs. New York Giants 12:00 p.m.
3 Sept. 27 at Atlanta Falcons 12:00 p.m.
4 Oct. 4 vs. Indianapolis Colts 12:00 p.m.
5 Oct. 8 vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (TNF) 7:20 p.m.
6 Oct. 18 at Carolina Panthers 12:00 p.m.
7 Oct. 26 at Los Angeles Rams (MNF) 7:15 p.m.
8 Nov. 1 vs. New Orleans Saints 3:25 p.m.
9 Nov. 8 at Tennessee Titans 12:00 p.m.
10 Nov. 16 vs. Minnesota Vikings (MNF) 7:15 p.m.
11 BYE
12 Nov. 29 at Green Bay Packers (SNF) 7:20 p.m.
13 Dec. 6 vs. Detroit Lions 12:00 p.m.
14 Dec. 13 vs. Houston Texans 12:00 p.m.
15 Dec. 20 at Minnesota Vikings 12:00 p.m.
16 Dec. 27 at Jacksonville Jaguars 12:00 p.m.
17 Jan. 3 vs. Green Bay Packers 12:00 p.m.

If the Bears hope to make a run at the playoffs in 2020, not only will they need to capitalize on a favorable first-half stretch, but they’ll need to come up big in the second half of the season.

Check out game-by-game score predictions from around the NFL Wires network:

Buf / Mia / NE / NYJ // Bal / Cin / Cle / Pit // Hou / Ind / Jax / Ten // Den / KC / LV / LAC //// Dal / NYG / Phi / Was // Chi / Det / GB / Min // Atl / Car / NO / TB // Ari / LAR / SF / Sea

[vertical-gallery id=444804]

Bears won’t play in a holiday game for first time since 2013

Bears fans should be able to relax a little more during the holiday season, as they won’t be playing in any holiday games in 2020.

Chicago Bears fans should be able to relax a little more during the holidays during the 2020 season.

For the first time since 2013, the Bears won’t play a game on Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, according to ChicagoBears.com’s Larry Mayer.

For the last two years, the Bears have played the Lions on Thanksgiving — both hard-fought victories for Chicago at Ford Field. Last year, Chicago defeated Detroit 24-20 in a rare showing of offensive prowess from Mitchell Trubisky and co. In 2018, safety Eddie Jackson’s fourth-quarter pick-six was the game-deciding score that helped the Bears defeat the Lions 23-16.

During the 2017 season, Chicago got an early Christmas gift with a 20-3 win over the Cleveland Browns on Christmas Eve, which left Bears players making snow angels. But the following week, the Bears suffered a 23-10 loss to the Vikings on New Year’s Eve.

In 2016, the Bears completed a Halloween upset of the 5-1 Vikings with a 20-10 victory behind strong showings by quarterback Jay Cutler and rookie running back Jordan Howard. But later that season, the Bears suffered two brutal defeats by the Washington Redskins, 41-21, and Minnesota Vikings 38-10, on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, respectively.

Back in 2015, the Bears ruined Brett Favre night with an upset of the Packers on Thanksgiving with a 17-13 win at Lambeau Field. But Thanksgiving hasn’t always been kind to Chicago. In 2014, the Bears were walloped 34-17 by the Lions on Thanksgiving at Ford Field.

Check out game-by-game score predictions from around the NFL Wires network:

Buf / Mia / NE / NYJ // Bal / Cin / Cle / Pit // Hou / Ind / Jax / Ten // Den / KC / LV / LAC //// Dal / NYG / Phi / Was // Chi / Det / GB / Min // Atl / Car / NO / TB // Ari / LAR / SF / Sea

[vertical-gallery id=444804]

[lawrence-related id=444926,444968,444976,444952,444936]

Bears’ 2020 schedule reveal with Lyrical Lemonade leaves sour taste

We love a good Bears schedule reveal, but this year’s reveal left a sour taste in our mouths.

One of my favorite parts of the offseason is the NFL schedule release. Yes, it’s exciting to see how the opponents match up while trying to predict the record for your favorite team and planning potential road trips to new cities for away games. But it’s also where NFL marketing and social media teams get to shine with their unique reveals.

The Bears have produced some of the best videos when it comes to releasing their schedule. In 2018, they partnered with former Bears defensive end Israel Idonije and his company, Athlitacomics, to produce a superhero reveal that carried throughout the season.

In 2019, to celebrate their 100 year anniversary, the Bears gave a nod to founder George Halas by showing clips in an old film room, eventually transitioning to 2019 with current head coach Matt Nagy.

So what did the team unveil this year? A somewhat messy animation collaboration with Lyrical Lemonade.

Before I get into my review, yes this is an article devoted entirely to the video that showcases the team’s schedule. Maybe it’s the marketing professional in me, but looking through each team’s creative releases is something I truly enjoy, especially during this pandemic.

The video begins with two bears entering a Chicago Bears coach bus at Soldier Field, driven by Staley. The bus then picks up bobble head-like versions of their opponents mascots at various stops throughout the city, unveiling the details of each game as they board over a hip hop beat. Once all the passengers are aboard, the bus returns to Soldier Field.

Cole Bennett, music director and founder of Lyrical Lemonade, helped produce this year’s reveal. Bennett grew up in the Chicago suburbs and has an impressive resume when it comes to directing and producing music videos for top artists, including Eminem, Kanye West, Wiz Khalifa, and more. At just 23 years old, he’s had a tremendous amount of success.

But his latest project with the Bears doesn’t quite live up to the hype. The animation looks like it was taken straight from the ’90s Bulls intro video, minus the Alan Parsons Project soundtrack behind it. My other gripe with the video is that the mascots just get on the bus with the Bears like they’re all going to the game together. Now it may not be the best look to have the mascots go head-to-head with the actual bears in the bus, but wouldn’t it have made more sense to leave them at the stop in a fun way and keep driving?

I did appreciate the touches of each stop having unique characteristics for the opponent. The Panthers had black cats in the streets, the Colts had horseshoes leading to the door, and the Buccaneers had a skull on the seat. Overall, however, it seemed to miss the mark.

We know the way a team unveils its schedule has nothing to do with the actual schedule and how their opponents match up. But for fans who are starved for entertainment, this is a nice break to get excited about the upcoming season. If you’re a fan of mascots looking like bobbleheads, you’ll enjoy this reveal. For me, however, I’ll be scouting out the other 31 teams to see how they did and probably enjoy it more.

[vertical-gallery id=444804]

[lawrence-related id=444968,444952,444936,444921]

Bears could face AFC South in first month of 2020 season

With the coronavirus pandemic impacting all sports, the Bears are reportedly going to face all AFC opponents in September.

For the first time since 2016, the Chicago Bears will be squaring off against the AFC South, and, per reports, the NFL is scheduling the first month of the season so that the NFC plays the AFC.

John Clayton of 710 ESPN in Seattle confirmed to USA Today Sports Media Group that this is a league discussion.

With the coronavirus pandemic impacting all sports, the NFL is obviously anticipating that the first month of the season may be canceled. And potentially eliminating these four games would do little to the NFC’s playoff implications.

I’ve also seen two other rumors regarding the Bears’ first month. The first being that they will host the Houston Texans on Monday Night Football in Week 4. I’m sure everyone is ready for the Mitchell Trubisky-Deshaun Watson 2017 NFL Draft narratives similar to when the Bears played host to the Patrick Mahomes-led Kansas City Chiefs a year ago.

The other rumor is they will open the season in Jacksonville. That’s particularly interesting because Nick Foles could potentially face the team that traded him, should he be named the starting quarterback.

That would mean the Bears would travel to Tennessee and host the Colts within the first four weeks as well. If you recall, the Titans rode Derrick Henry and a red-hot Ryan Tannehill to the AFC Championship game last season.

The Colts are going to be interesting this season because of their improvement at the quarterback position. Philip Rivers has a 2-2 record against the Bears in his career, including a 17-16 victory at Soldier Field in Week 8 last year.

The NFL will release the full 2020 schedule on Thursday at 7 p.m. CT.

[vertical-gallery id=436123]

[lawrence-related id=444836,444692,444750,444690]

Bears 2020 schedule will be released no later than May 9

The NFL schedule release will be pushed back until early May, but we already know who the Bears will face in 2020.

While the future of the sports landscape remains murky at best amid the coronavirus pandemic, the NFL hasn’t found its offseason interrupted to the extent of other professional sports.

The NFL moved forward with free agency and the new league year, and the 2020 NFL Draft is still slated to take place April 23-25, although it’ll be much different than typical drafts. It won’t be a grand spectacle held in Las Vegas. Instead, they’re “exploring innovative options for how the process will be conducted” noting that the selection process “will be televised.”

Typically, the NFL schedule release is held a week before the NFL Draft. But that won’t be the case this year. According to the NFL, it’ll be pushed back until at least May 9.

But while we won’t know the when factor until a few weeks later, we do know the who and where factors when it comes to the Bears’ 2020 opponents.

Home Away
Houston Texans Atlanta Falcons
Indianapolis Colts Carolina Panthers
New Orleans Saints Jacksonville Jaguars
New York Giants Los Angeles Rams
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Tennessee Titans
Detroit Lions Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers Green Bay Packers
Minnesota Vikings Minnesota Vikings

The Bears will face the AFC South and NFC South next season, which includes home games against the Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints, as well as away games against the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers and Tennessee Titans.

With the Bears finishing third in the NFC North, they’ll play a third-place schedule, which should be easier than the first-place schedule they faced in 2019.

Some of the marquee matchups feature Deshaun Watson and the Texans coming to Soldier Field to face (maybe) Mitchell Trubisky and the Bears, a potential Nick Foles revenge game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, as well as rematches against the Saints and Los Angeles Rams, on top of NFC North rivalries.

[lawrence-related id=441416,441197,441377,441370]

Chicago Bears’ 2020 opponents set

While there are still two weeks left in the 2019 season, the Bears’ 2020 opponents have been set.

While there’s still two weeks remaining in the Chicago Bears’ 2019 season, their opponents for 2020 have been set.

The Bears will face the AFC South and NFC South next season, which includes home games against the Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints, as well as away games against the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers and Tennessee Titans.

With the Bears finishing third in the NFC North, they’ll play a third-place schedule, which should be easier than the first-place schedule they faced this season.

Some of the marquee matchups feature Deshaun Watson and the Texans coming to Soldier Field to face Mitchell Trubisky and the Bears, as well as rematches against the Saints and Los Angeles Rams, as well as NFC North rivalries.

Here’s a look at the Bears’ 2020 opponents:

Home Away
Houston Texans Atlanta Falcons
Indianapolis Colts Carolina Panthers
New Orleans Saints Jacksonville Jaguars
New York Giants Los Angeles Rams
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Tennessee Titans
Detroit Lions Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers Green Bay Packers
Minnesota Vikings Minnesota Vikings

The Bears, who were eliminated from playoff contention last week, conclude the 2019 season with games against the Kansas City Chiefs and Minnesota Vikings.

[lawrence-related id=433795,433786,433780,433764,433706,433704]