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The NFL's released their opponent listings for the 2013 season. It's not the actual schedule, per se, but it does show who the Bears are going to play and where.
This year, the Bears are getting the NFC North (of course, six games in their own division). They get to match up against a pretty tough AFC North as well as the NFC East (which means another meeting with the Eagles, yay!). Then, for the final two games, for finishing third in their division, they get the third place teams of the NFC South and NFC West.
Home: Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, New Orleans Saints, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals
Away: Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins, St. Louis Rams, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers
Phew. That looks like a pretty tough road - that being said, the toughest non-division games on there are at home, with the toughest road games looking like the Redskins and the Steelers. It's a little too soon for prognostication, but there it is - for a "third place schedule," getting the games they do at home should make this a little more manageable.
What do you guys think? Does that listing scare you?