As the Chicago Bears enjoy a well-deserve bye week attention will turn to the road ahead and begin to consider what it will take to make it take control of the NFC North and perhaps take the one seed. It is a feat that is incredibly difficult, but boosted by a schedule that is a nice mix of allowing Chicago to control its own destiny and get hot at the perfect moment.
After the Bears come out of the bye week they are scheduled to take on the New Orleans Saints, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, and the helpless Miami Dolphins.
It is the perfect mix of what should be two layup wins vs. two statement games with all eyes watching. Playing Detroit on Thanksgiving is nearing a must-win when you look at the difficult road in the NFC North and Ben Johnson's record against the division. It will have the full attention of the Bears and should be a statement game that pushes the team back into the conversation as a potential top seed in the NFC.
Add in the Jaguars, who just had an incredibly busy trade deadline and the Bears have a chance to make themselves an undeniable force while beating two awful teams in the Saints and Dolphins. These next four games are the perfect runway to get hot going into the end of the schedule and leave the league no choice but to give due respect.
It will be interesting to watch how coverage around Chicago shifts throughout this as they have already been all over the map this season. The year started with the Bears being the trendy team for regression before this yet again shifted after a hot start.
Bears' schedule setting up clear opportunity for statement and hot finish to 2026 season
This past week's win was inspiration for yet another corner turn from those outside Chicago as recency bias won out after Caleb Williams threw four interceptions and the Bears weren't as sharp. With this in mind, fans should understand that both Johnson and Williams are taking all of the noise in using it in the absolute best way.
Chicago is going to be ready coming out of the bye week to take care of business against the Saints before turning their attention to an incredibly important divisional matchup. No question, it is a perfectly set up schedule to give the Bears exactly what they need going into the playoffs.
Whether it is with a first round bye or playing in the first round remains very much on the table, with this four-game stretch going a long way in giving us this answer and hopefully handing the league an undeniable statement.
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