Bears 2023 Schedule: What is the easiest stretch of games?

The Chicago Bears revealed their 2023 schedule in a glorious manner on Thursday night, paying homage to The Bear, a Chicago set series on Hulu. It’s an outstanding show, so if you didn’t understand why Charles Tillman and Seth “Freakin” Rollins were running a restaurant in the schedule release skit, then go watch that show.

For this next set of Windy City Gridiron Roundtable topics, I asked a few of our team members to give me their responses to some schedule-related topics. Before we get into what we said, here’s a refresher on Chicago’s schedule.

• Week 1 (9/10) - vs. Green Bay Packers, 3:25 p.m., FOX
• Week 2 (9/17) - at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, noon, FOX
• Week 3 (9/24) - at Kansas City Chiefs, 3:25 p.m., FOX
• Week 4 (10/1) - vs. Denver Broncos, noon, CBS
• Week 5 (10/5) - at Washington Commanders, 7:15 p.m., TNF on Amazon Prime
• Week 6 (10/15) - vs. Minnesota Vikings, noon, FOX
• Week 7 (10/22) - vs. Las Vegas Raiders, noon, FOX
• Week 8 (10/29) - at Los Angeles Chargers, 7:20 p.m., SNF on NBC
• Week 9 (11/5) - at New Orleans Saints, noon, CBS
• Week 10 (11/9) - vs. Carolina Panthers, 7:15 p.m., TNF on Amazon Prime
• Week 11 (11/19) - at Detroit Lions, noon, FOX
• Week 12 (11/27) - at Minnesota Vikings, 7:15 p.m., MNF on ESPN
• Week 13 - BYE
• Week 14 (12/10) - vs. Detroit Lions, noon, FOX
• Week 15 (TBD) - at Cleveland Browns, TBD
• Week 16 (12/24) - vs. Arizona Cardinals (Christmas Eve), 3:25 p.m., FOX
• Week 17 (12/31) - vs. Falcons, noon, CBS
• Week 18 (1/7) - at Green Bay Packers (time and network TBD)

What is the easiest stretch of games for the Bears this season?

Josh Sunderbruch - Week 4-Week 7 looks promising. It’s a run of mostly home games against a Denver team I don’t believe in, a Commanders roster in flux, a Vikings team that has lost some players, and a Raiders team that should be due for its Hoodie-disciple implosion.

Aaron Leming - I’m not really sure there are any “easy stretches” on paper, but I do like the group of four games from weeks four through seven. I don’t think the Broncos are going to be any good. The Commanders have a really good defense, but the quarterback situation is questionable at best. I expect serious regression from the Vikings, and the Raiders are a team that is similar to the Broncos with a worse quarterback and an even worse roster. You could also make an argument for weeks 15 through 17, as well.

Lester A. Wiltfong Jr. - I think the Broncos will bounce back and be much better with Sean Payton in charge, but in Chicago, that’s a game the Bears should be competitive. But after that, in weeks 5 through 7, those are three games the Bears could sweep.

Jeff Berckes - It’s either Weeks 4-7 or the last stanza of the year. Denver, at Washington, Minnesota, and the Raiders is a solid stretch. Heading to Cleveland, home against a likely terrible Cardinals team and a rebuilding Falcons squad, before heading to Green Bay to end the year. Those could be stretches where the Bears don’t face a playoff team.

Sam Householder - The schedule is fairly well-balanced between good and bad teams, so this is tough. However, I hope that coming out of the bye into December, the Bears will ideally be playing better football if they’re still healthy by then. The Lions should be tough, but then catching a Browns squad with a lot of questions, a possibly tanking Cardinals squad, and a frisky Falcons team seems like three winnable games on paper.

Erik Christopher Duerrwaechter - I truly feel this entire schedule is fairly winnable for the Bears. That said, I think their final five games of the regular season from weeks 14-18 give them a good chance to finish their season strong. They’ll benefit from having a later bye week this year as well.

Peter Borkowski - Weeks 15-17 could/should be wins. Cleveland might present an issue depending on what version of Deshaun Watson we get this season, but if they look anything at all like last year’s Browns, the Bears could easily be in that game. Meanwhile, Arizona and Atlanta are both in pretty weird spots. Arizona has talent, but cannot seem to put it all together, and Atlanta is missing talent up and down the roster. Both present very winnable situations.

Robert Schmitz - The end of the season looks awfully easy, especially if you think Jordan Love and the Packers may end up at odds by the end of the year — starting as soon as Week 15’s Browns game and running through Week 18, the Bears get poor quarterbacks, tanking teams, and a nice pair of home games. Honestly, I wish a run like this existed sooner in the schedule!

What stretch of games do you think is the easiest for Chicago this season?