The Road to the Playoffs Runs Through Fire

By Clete Campbell

Windy City End Zone Staff Writer

Nobody ever wants to throw water on a burning fire of Chicago football optimism, especially when it’s boiling into an inferno.

But as we learned with Wednesday night’s reveal of the Bears’ dogfight heavy 2025 season schedule, Chicago is facing a slate that could hit harder than even Hall of Famer Steve “Mongo” McMichael. 

Games against 10 2024 playoff teams including a Black Friday road date with the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. A three-game opening dance with the Minnesota Vikings, Detroit Lions (NFC North foes who combined to go 29-5 in 2024) and Dallas Cowboys. A pair of live or die games in a span of three weeks to close the campaign against that vicious thief of joy force known as the Green Bay Packers.

And a 13-consecutive game closing run after their ultra-early Week 5 bye week.

“They simply must emerge from that at .500 or better,” Marquee Sports Network’s Scott Bair writes.

With their challenging playoff map in hand, the Bears are now truly on the clock to return to the postseason for the first time since Matt Nagy’s 2020 team limped across the Wild Card door at 8-8.

“It’s important to stay grounded in reality. Chicago is in Year 1 of a transition period. The roster has been overhauled and is drastically improved, but it will take some time for Ben Johnson's system to take hold,” Sports Illustrated’s Bryan Perez writes (www.si.com). “It could result in some close losses early in the year, but a nine or even 10-win season is absolutely within reach for this team.

“If the Chicago Bears get off to a hot start, the playoffs are a realistic goal. But patience will be a virtue in 2025.”

It’s not what anyone wants to hear, especially Bears players and coaches, who want to put the club back in the NFL Playoff Club more than anyone. 

Other X-factors that will determine the Bears’ playoff fate in 2025: posting a winning record at Soldier Field, sweeping Las Vegas, the New York Giants and Cleveland Browns and running at least .500 in the beast-filled NFC North.

It promises to be an adventure with thrills, agony, pain and peril. Bears Nation can’t wait to kick it off with Sept. 14’s Monday Night Football opening night showdown with the Vikings at Soldier Field.

“Many people flounder in life because they do not have a purpose, an objective toward which to work,” Papa Bear George Halas famously said.

The Chicago Bears will have many problems to solve in 2025, but finding their purpose won’t be one of them

.