Chicago Bears Schedule: 5 toughest games in 2018

Week 16: On the road against San Francisco 49ers

Speaking of those up-and-coming 49ers, the Bears will travel to face them in the runner-up to the season finale. My bet is that Kyle Shanahan has his guys fighting to make the playoffs at this point, and week 16 will happen to mean a lot to them.

Jimmy Garoppolo became the highest-paid player in NFL history over the offseason, and some would say that was a bit soon to give him that kind of money. But, if San Francisco didn’t lock him up, another team would have.

Garoppolo set the football world on fire last season after being traded to the 49ers for a second-round pick and eventually becoming the starter. His 49ers went 5-0 after Garoppolo became the starter, and they proceeded to pay him a whopping $137.5 million over a five-year span.

The man did set an NFL record last season, so I can’t harp on the contract too much.

In any event, Chicago will have their hands full with a quarterback in his second year of Shanahan’s system who looks like the real deal. Vic Fangio is entering his third year with the Bears, and many of his guys should have an even higher level of comfort in his system than Garoppolo does in Shanahan’s.

I am not making any predictions for this one, but I could see this game coming down to the fourth quarter. If the Bears, yet again, boast a top-10 or better defense in 2018, the 49ers will have a tougher time in this contest than most may think.

The real question is, though, will the Bears also be scraping for playoff positioning as well? We will have to wait and find out.