The Bears voted against the 17 game schedule

When the new CBA went into affect a year ago, which included approval for the NFL to eventually move to a 17 game schedule, everyone knew it would happen sooner rather than later, and yesterday it was made official. Starting with the 2021 campaign, the regular season would be 17 games while the preseason has been cut to 3 games.

The move to more games that count will add to the league’s revenue which will in turn be shared with the players, but that hasn’t stopped several players from raising health concerns by adding a game.

ESPN Senior Writer Seth Wickersham is reporting that the vote to approve a 17 game schedule wasn’t unanimous, and that the Chicago Bears’ George H. McCaskey voted for keeping the season at an even 16 games.

The Bears have yet to give a reason for the no vote, and if they do we’ll update this article.

Perhaps it was health related, perhaps McCaskey had other ideas on how to increase revenue, or perhaps the Bears just liked the idea of an even slate of home and away contests each season.