2 Chicago Bears rivals dealt daunting 2025 strength of schedules

The Chicago Bears are looking to carve their own path to the top of the NFC North as Ben Johnson begins his head coach tenure. However, they’ll take any help they can get with ensuring year one ends up being a success.

All three of Chicago’s NFC North rivals made the playoffs in 2024. While all of them have undergone roster changes, none are expecting anything different in 2025. The Bears have gotten plenty of hype during the offseason, but they still need to prove they can keep up with one of the toughest decisions in football.

If the Bears struggle against their NFC North counterparts, then all of this becomes a moot point. However, of Chicago is in the playoff race, they’ll be paying close attention to their division members schedule’s. Both the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings are in for a difficult task in 2025. The franchises have the third and fifth-hardest upcoming schedules, via Sharp Football Analysis.

“Projected win totals incorporate current information about team strength, including offseason acquisitions, injuries, and coaching changes,” Sharp wrote. “These projections are crafted by sportsbooks aiming to predict future performance, making them more reflective of a team’s current capabilities.”

“While no SOS metric is perfect, using Vegas win totals provides a better indication of what teams could look like in the upcoming season than relying on the previous year’s wins,” Sharp concluded.

Chicago Bears not out of the woods 

While Bears fans will love seeing where the Lions and Vikings, the smiles quickly fade once Chicago’s position is revealed. They sit just two places before the Vikings at No. 26. Johnson and company will have an even tougher task ahead of them in year once based on the schedule projections.

For starters, the Bears must face the Lions, Vikings and Green Bay Packers twice. It’s always a daunting task when two division rivals face off. But with all four teams hoping to be in the playoff hunt, the NFC North it set to be a true battle in 2025.

Outside of the division, Chicago will play the NFC East and AFC North, as well as San Francisco 49ers, Las Vegas Raiders and New Orleans Saints. The 49ers will always be a tough battle while the Raiders are on the rise themselves. New Orleans is a bit of a wild in Kellen Moore’s debut.

At some point, the Bears will face off against the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. Between that and a rematch against the Washington Commanders, Chicago’s battles against the East will be must watch. The Dallas Cowboys will still be dangerous as long as Dak Prescott is healthy and perhaps the Bears can get their first look of Jaxson Dart on the New York Giants.

They’re well aware of what quarterbacks Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson of the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens respectively bring to the table. Those matchups will be some of the toughest battles of the year. As will be the Bears battle against the Pittsburgh Steelers. While their quarterback situation isn’t figured out just yet, their defense is still to be feared. The Cleveland Browns have five questionable quarterbacks on their roster. But as long as they have Myles Garrett they can’t be slept on.

Rosters and scenarios will change week by week. What is truly the toughest schedule in May may not be true come Week 1. But for now, the Bears join the NFC North counterparts with one of the trickiest projected schedules in the league.