The schedule has been released for 2007. Here's a week-by-week analysis.
Week One - Sunday September 9th
at San Diego (4:15)
The single hardest game on the schedule is right up front. If the Bears can win on the road against the Vegas favorite to win it all, we might be looking at a second very special season. By the way, opening day at 4:15 sucks. (All times below given in EST)
Week Two - Sunday September 16th
vs. Kansas City (4:15)
The Bears home opener against a team they absolutely should beat.
Week Three - Sunday September 23rd
vs. Dallas (8:15)
The first of five primetime games on the season.
Week Four - Sunday September 30th
at Detroit (1:00)
It takes a month into the season to play at 1. Looks like the 2007 football season will be known as a season on the drink.
Week 5 - Sunday October 7th
at Green Bay (8:15)
Primetime at Lambeau against a rising Packers team with its one-last-hurrah quarterback.
Week 6 - Sunday October 14th
vs. Minnesota (1:00)
Week 7 - Sunday October 21st
at Philly (4:15)
Week 8 - Sunday October 28th
vs. Detroit (1:00)
Week 9 - Bye
This is a winnable stretch of games followed by the perfectly placed bye week. There's nothing like a bye right in the middle of the season.
Week 10 - Sunday November 11th
at Oakland (4:15)
If you don't beat Oakland with two weeks to prepare, you're a 5-11 team.
Week 11 - Sunday November 18th
at Seattle (8:15)
Week 12 - Sunday November 25th
vs. Denver (1:00)
Great game. Like having these guys and the Chiefs at home. Tough places to play.
Week 13 - Sunday December 2nd
vs. Giants (4:15)
Great game. Should be two playoff teams.
Week 14 - Thursday December 6th
at Washington (8:15)
Love the Thursday night game. Can't remember the last time the Bears played in one.
Week 15 - Monday December 17th
at Minnesota (8:30)
The Bears get almost two weeks to prepare for a huge division game. Thank you, schedule makers.
Week 16 - Sunday December 23rd
vs. Green Bay (1:00)
If this division is tight, everything will be decided in weeks 15 and 16.
Week 17 - Sunday December 30th
vs. New Orleans (1:00)
The Bears do not want this game to mean a single thing. Having to win against a young and hungry Saints team is a bad spot no matter where this game is played.
All in all....11-5
#2 JB said . . .I will say 12-4.
The losses @ San Diego, @ Philly, @ Seattle, and vs. NO. all playoff teams.
We could go 11-5 or even 10-6 and as long as we beat the packers twice and win the division I dont care which of the three records it is. . . thats not true. I wanna win everygame. . . but thats near impossible for any team any year
April 11, 2007
#3 Pissed off said . . .Ok, I see it in tiers (Listed easiest to hardest):
Tier 1, easy victories, we don't win these we don't deserve to play:
1. vs. Detroit, 2. @ Detroit, 3. @ Oakland, 4. vs. Green Bay.
Tier 2, Games that are very winnable but are not the above gimmes:
5. vs. Minnesota, 6. vs. Kansas City, 7. @ Washington, 8. vs. Dallas.
Tier 3, These are competitive teams that we should beat:
9. vs. Giants, 10. @ Green Bay (tough to win there), 11. vs. Denver, 12. @ Minnesota
Tier 4, Toughest games, definite challenges:
13. vs. New Orleans, 14. @Philly, 15. @ Seattle, 16. @ San Diego.The way I see it, we should go 8-0 or 7-1 against tiers 1 and 2, 3-1 against tier 3, and 2-2 against tier 4. I see 13-3 or 12-4. I think that should be good enough for a bye. It's tough, but I think the toughest thing will be all the primetime games instead of getting the work done early.
April 11, 2007
#4 Pissed off said . . .I dont agree with Max that we will lose to Seattle, Philly or New Orleans (how can you think we'd lose to New Orleans?) You gotta believe man....dont start the year on a negative DAMN!.....or San Diego for that matter but you know Charger fans are saying the same thing (that they might lose the opener to the Bears), I think we can beat San Diego, they have a new coach and everyone is starting fresh that game...no real game preparations yet and we could easily go in there and surprise them, now if it was week 3 or 4 we had to go into San Diego I would say loss but because its the first game of the year I will say possible "W" and our best chance to beat them.
Yes Jeff, opening day with a late game really sucks! And what sucks even more is that the second weeks is a late game too? Cheifs/Bears, two midwestern teams playing at 4:15, what gives?! Still scrolling thru the schedule........what the fuck is with all these late games.....SHIT MAN!
Maybe it'll be snowing on Dec 30th......it will be a perfect replica of the 2006 NFC championship game, same results too!
I'll say 12-4, we should be about 13-3 but we'll mess it up somewhere. Lets not forget we should have been 14-2 last year if it wasnt for some New Years eve anxiousness.
April 11, 2007
#5 mikebdot said . . .I guess I should clarify to Max the games I think we'll lose....if I had to have a gun to my head I'd say San Diego, Philly, Seattle.....I dont know where the 4th loss will be but we'll lose to New Orleans if the playoff stuff is locked up but it might be locked up for them too so who knows. We could lose at Minnesota but that team sucks right now.....we pretty much own GB in lambeau but Denver is a bit scary.
April 11, 2007
#6 Pissed off said . . .15-1, somehow they'll manage to lose to the Dolphins even though they aren't on the schedule...
Seriously though, 14-2, both losses will occur at night, opponent doesn't matter, but I'll say Green Bay (at GB) and Seattle.
They will win the Super Bowl with Grossman playing lights out on his road to the hall of fame. The two losses will be letdowns by the defense and the potential comeback drives will fall short because of a fumble by a WR or RB.
April 11, 2007
#7 Al in WI said . . .Nice, very nice.
But seriously, its going to be a good year, contract year for Rex. We cant lose to GB in GB, we own them there. Good call on the fumbles, though I tend to lean toward the WR on that.....not so much the RB...but I guess Ceds our guy now so yeah it could be him coughing it up. And thank God the Dolphins arent on the schedule, mabye this year it'll be Oakland?
April 11, 2007
#8 Megan said . . .Let me first say that I reserve the right to change this after draft and preseason.
Second I think we will go 12-4 with the way things look now. The loses will be @ SD, @ Seatle, @ Wash, and the NO game.
I think the timing of the SD game sucks because it will be a 120 degrees out there in early September. Seatle is brutal at home and it will likely be a down poor. We always struggle with Washington (86, 87, 89 ,90, 91, 96, 97 ,99,04, 05), and on a short week that could be tricky. And I think the NO game will not mean much and Lovie likes to blow the last game of the year.
I don't think we'll lose to Philly, as I think they are overrated and McNabb will likely be out, and Smith's teams match up well with west coast teams.April 11, 2007
#9 AfroCelt said . . .I don't wanna think about the season's standings until I know what players we have, we don't have, who we are signing/not signing. I can't think like that.
I will chime in when the draft and contract shit is over...Not that I would have anything really deep to say about it.April 11, 2007
#10 Midway Monster said . . .As to my previous post, I have one "free ticket" to any Bears home game*. Which shoul I go for? :)
*I can't in good standing ask for the GB @ Soldier can I?
April 11, 2007
#11 Midway Monster said . . .Hummm. I take em one week at a time... one week at a time .. with one exception: Gotta beat the Pack twice damn it!
--Midway--
(rehab)April 11, 2007
#12 Max said . . .Hummm. I take em one week at a time... one week at a time .. with one exception: Gotta beat the Pack twice damn it!
--Midway--
(rehab)April 11, 2007
#13 Pissed off said . . .AfroCelt, I say this one. Packers is always a great game and itll be cold and perfect for Bear football.
Week 16 - Sunday December 23rd
vs. Green Bay (1:00)That or the Thursday Denver game. Cause its Thursday and its Denver.
Although, I don't know about Jay Cutler just yet. Not enough experience.
April 12, 2007
#14 Pissed off said . . .Al, as I said I think that we can win the SD game because its the first game of the year and we have our best chance to beat them then becuase they havent played a full hard game yet and they havent gotten into a rythm cuz its the first game, plus with a new coach and some other variables I think we got a chance..but you have some good points too.
Hey Afro, I'm with Max....go to the Denver game.....but contrary to what Max said its not a Thursday game...its a regular noon start on Sunday November 25th.
April 12, 2007
#15 Phil from SATX said . . .Oh I almost forgot.....does NBC do the flex schedule again after week 10 or whatever it was? We already have 3 Sunday night NBC games but if they do flex we have a chance for one or two more bringing our primetime total to 6 or 7, wouldnt that be sweet? I love the national exposure....plus the games are in HD. Potential flex games.....@Seattle, vs.Denver, vs.Giants, vs.GB or vs. NO......basically every game from Week 11 on except the Min game and Washington game cuz they're already primtime.
April 12, 2007
#16 AfroCelt said . . .The funny thing here is I am thinking, if this is the Bears team of 2006, the ONLY game I'm worried about is the first one. We haven't seen San Diego, and most thought they were the strongest team last year. No Colts or Patriots on the schedule, and the 2006 Bears were better than every other team we're going to face this year.
So the million dollar question is, will the 2007 Bears be as good as the 2006 Bears? I'm not even going to chime in yet, I want to hear your thoughts (but I will reveal that my general answer is YES THEY WILL). Let's break it down, shall we? BTW, it's time to get our asses in gear on this site, time to fire up, we've gotten fat and lazy in the off-season, time for us to report to camp for our own conditioning program.
NOW DROP AND GIVE ME 20! (posts that is).
April 12, 2007
#17 thegreenmenace said . . .Haven't decided on a game...I feel bad about taking the classic Packers...and The thursday game looks good, but I'll be traveling down from Green Bay (I know, it sucks) so Thursday would be tougher. I'll have to think about it.
The 2007 Bears as opposed to the 2006 Bears? I need so see who our roster includes. If we draft talent at TE and o-line, it'll make an immediate impact. I NEED draft day to come!
April 12, 2007
#18 jeff said . . .We are going to have to squeeze much more out of the schedule than just win/loss, I'm dying here. What are the blow-out games? (Detroit? Washington? NY?Oakland?) What game is the one Mike Brown gets injured in again? When will Ced have his breakout game? When will Hester have his first return? When does he break his own record? Lance comes back against the Raiders? Which game is the one were our D saves our asses? 151 days away, well at least I have the Bulls to distract me for a few weeks.
April 12, 2007
#19 jeff said . . .not to re-open ye olde can of worms, but if grossman improves, they'll be better. if he doesn't, they'll struggle to make the playoffs.
April 12, 2007
#20 mikebdot said . . .not to re-open ye olde can of worms, but if grossman improves, they'll be better. if he doesn't, they'll struggle to make the playoffs.
April 12, 2007
#21 Pissed off said . . .Why's everyone hatin' on Mike Brown. Injuries happen. It's part of playing like a f'in madman. I'd much rather have him play lights out when he's in there and get hurt occasionally. Maybe Grossman will get hurt again and we will be forced to play Griese and sign some crap back-up to him...
What about Tommie? When will Tank get arrested again? Do you really want this Steven A. Smith type discussion? I say, to hell with the drama/"storyline" crap, let's talk football.
Meaty topics:
1. The teams that everyone is picking to beat the Bears are not ALL going to be playoff teams next year. One or two of JB's "Tier 4" teams are going to suck next year. It's damn near a certainty. One of two of the "Tier 2/3" teams will become a playoff team/contender next year. It might be because they beat us.
2. What can we do to shore up the short pass defense that caused us so much trouble last year? We got burned many times allowing dump-off passes, especially in the Super Bowl. They need to work on tackling and taking better angles (specifically Manning, not Jr., although, is he going to play special teams now?).
3. Can Archuleta play like his former self? I think he can and hope he can.
4. Grossman is supposedly going to be working on not throwing off the back foot. Hopefully they can come up with a drill that actually accomplishes the goal. Also, I'm very excited about the prospect of using the shotgun formation. Very excited. That is what has allowed Manning to become so darn good.
5. We've discussed the draft needs already, but it's always worth another mention. Does anyone see us trading down/up/Briggs as the draft approaches/on draft day?
April 12, 2007
#22 mikebdot said . . .Rex will be fine, all we need is more consistency...we cant expect 7 more 100+ rating games but we can expect less than 5 with a rating under 32 (or whatever the stat was). If Archuleta is anywhere near his former self, he'll be a feared defender, him and MB might be 2 of the top 5 hitting safeties.
Also regarding the dump off passes, we defended them well most of the year except the super bowl and that was due in large part to Indy having two stud recievers and a damn good TE that demanded respect. In general though I think most any team will allow the dump off, its tough to stop
April 12, 2007
#23 jdawg said . . .Of course, my stock answer to the dump off pass is get pressure on the QB...DD and TH should wreak havoc. If we stay healthy at D-line we have all kinds of depth to provide rest all around. I think the less skilled players/rookies on D-line this year just got tired at the end of the year when they were racking up plays.
April 12, 2007
#24 Al in WI said . . .I agree, Rex will be fine -- as long as he can keep calm... we probably won't know that until maybe mid-season.
IMO Arch starts but in the same way Hunter H does -- on first down and then, if there is a sniff of passing in the air, he comes out and D Manning comes in. This could also include the final series of the first half or any time its the 2nd half the Bears have the lead.
The great thing about the Arch signing is that IF M Brown goes down again there'll be someone to tell D Manning, "go over there, then run over there, after you line up right there."
April 12, 2007
#25 Z said . . .I agree with Jeff's and Pod's comments. Rex will be key to how the season unfolds, as I expect he's going to need to lead some come from behind wins.
Personally I think he will do that and likely have a breakout year.
I also love the Shotgun talk I think that will help the line, and Rex quite a bit.
In another point a lot of the Chicago Media seems to be scared about the schedule. Especially the first 3 games of the year. Aside from SD, I think KC and Dallas will be blowout wins for us. Both are mediocre wild card teams, on the lake front, please.April 12, 2007
#26 Phil from SATX said . . .Sweet, the Bears schedule. Another step closer to the season. Yes, Rex will have to be more of a leader and show at least a little more consistency or this year will be very bad on the Bears faithful's blood pressure. All judgements may be reviewed and reversed after the draft and other free agent moves of course. I see San Diego (I agree better in the beginning than after LT has 30 Rushing, 10 Receiving and 5 throwing TD's, he is not human), Denver and New Orleans as the only teams that should really challenge us unless we are having another 0.0 QB rating towards the end of the game (Stay calm Rex, hopefully the cattle prod to the back foot when you throw off it in practice technique will zap you out of some of those mistakes, throw it away, far away man, we can handle a punt).
So even if we lose all three of those, I feel right now we are better than just about everyone else. Seattle, Philly and Dallas are decent teams that should be scrapping for playoff spots at the end of the year. We should win at least one of those games (at home against Dallas and TO will do nicely). The Giants (serious losses that have not been replaced), Washington (never seem to gel lately no matter who they buy[come on Dan, overpay for Briggs, please]), and Kansas City (older and older) are I think average teams that I will be surprised if we see them in the playoffs. We should beat all three if we play even a decent game. Oakland gets there own sentence because they will probably get the number one pick again. We better destroy the Raiders. I love watching Randy Moss whine like a little bitch.
I saved our division for last. We should only lose one game at most out of these six. I will trade two losses out of these as long as neither are to the Packers. It would be glorious to send #4 into retirement with two crushing losses to the Bears after ravaging us most of my adult life. I think with Kyle Orton we would definitely go 10-6 and win the division, so we should definitely do better than that with Rex in his second full year. I really believe he will be calmer and better. He kept us within 12 points while not playing very well in the SB (the whole team didn't do so hot in the second half). What bigger stage is there? Where will there be more pressure? If he can handle the constant abuse and criticism of last year and we still went to the SB, I have high hopes that we will be challenging deep in the playoffs again. We need a bye though so hopefully we play tough and win 13 or 14. Go Bears! I am trying to write shorter but it isn't working. Sorry in advance.
April 13, 2007
#27 Pissed off said . . .I agree with Z. The only concept that makes logical sense is that Rex will be improved next year, and possibly vastly improved. Remember that when Rex played well, or even not poorly, we won every game, generally easily and without drama at the end. When Rex played poorly, the Bears of last year were good enough to overcome that poor play to win all but 3. And I still say the last one didn't really count, and one included the Patriots, who are (thankfully?) not on the schedule this year.
If Rex becomes more comfortable with the new QB coach, addition of shotgun and months to address what are now obvious and potentially easily correctable problems, his leap could and should be considerable next year. Let's not forget that Rex's issues of mechanics were not exposed until last year, so this may be the first time they've really drilled down on some of these issues. Seems like it should be much easier to do in the off-season and pre-season than in the regular season.
Rex's improvement next year will be the reason the Bears will be even better than they were in 2006, despite the possible loss of Briggs and loss of TJ. The additions in the draft are just about assured to be offensive weapons or improvements to the O-line, and Archuleta shores up a big issue in the secondary. Mike Brown back, Tommie Harris back, Dusty in uniform to show what he can do (let's not forget that guy was a Sooner Stud, even after Old Dr. Slumberditch was no longer part of his program) - I'll say it again, the Bears should be good enough to beat every team on their schedule with the only unknown being that first game. 15-1? or 16-0? THAT is the question. Wow, I'm feeling a little dizzy, think I need to lie down. Go Bears!
April 13, 2007
#28 Al in WI said . . .Z, you tell Rex to throw it away, that we can handle punting, well when he does throw it away theres boo's and if he tries to make a play and its picked off theres even more boo's. Its not an easy solve, you say its OK to throw it away and punt but the faithful at the game see it differently.
Randy Moss probably wont be playing against us in week 10, by then he'll be hurt or have already quit.
Using the shotgun will include a learning curve too, just because we're incorporating the shotgun doesnt mean there wont be problems, there will be times when something goes amiss and it looks like a monkey fucking a football out there so lets not say the shotgun is a fix-all because just like learning a new system, or playing in his first full year or whatever new change comes up....incorporating a shotgun will have its ups and downs too as its learned and used throughout the year.
I like the optimism Phil and I'd like to think the same but the NFL is a wacky league where one of those so called beatable teams could come out and be tough as hell and go 13-3 and we could lose. Or SD could go in the tank and only be 8-8 this year..who knows with the NFL, thats why they play.
I feel like I need to bring up Seattle....a lot of people think we might lose that game....lets not forget Seattle sucked pretty bad most of the year, they BARELY got into the playoffs (mainly because of a shitty division that they beat up on) and should have lost the playoff game against Dallas, they are a bottom tier team, 9-7 at best.
April 13, 2007
#29 thegreenmenace said . . .It's nice to see that cooler heads have finally prevailed on the Grossman issue.
The main things that I hope he does are to work on his fundamentals, and improve decision making in some instances but maintains his aggressiveness. His go deep style forces the D to keep the safeties back, and opens up running lanes. The formula was the same in the 80's when teams had to worry about McMahon and Tomczak hitting Gault deep and couldn't gang up on Payton and Anderson.
April 13, 2007
#30 Pissed off said . . .In case anyone missed it, SI did a best 1st Rd draft picks and Butkus made 3rd!
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0604/gallery.nfldraftslot/content.1.htmlApril 13, 2007
#31 Z said . . .The #5 slot must have been pretty thin over the years if Deion Sanders is the best 5Th pick ever. Notable mention for thin drafts slots thru 20.... #8 Lance Allworth, #9 Lenny Moore, #11 Paul Warfield, #20 Jack Youngblood.....all great players but c'mon thats not very stellar for all time players drafted in those slots. I'm sure I'll hear about if from someone whos related to one of these guys now.
April 13, 2007
#32 WindyCityPackerFan said . . .Well there were times during Dick Jauron and Dave Wannedstadt(couldn't care less if it's spelled right) tenure that we might as well have had a monkey fucking a football as our offensive game plan. Let's see coach draw that up. Funny stuff. Seriously though, I think this kid has played in like five different offenses between his last two years of college and first three in the NFL. A full off season to review what is finally a full year of tape of his games, a whole preseason to work out some mechanical problems and work with mostly the same offense and players and a little shotgun which can only make him at least a little calmer with a half second more to throw to our guys (please just our guys) instead of spending that half second backpedaling and then launching it stright up in the air (set those feet big guy) and hopefully at least one more decent offensive weapon to throw to (come on Angelo, make it happen) and I think he can only improve.
Remember everyone, when he had good games he didn't just not suck, he had great touch on the ball and he can launch it pretty well too. And the fans that don't get that he isn't Montana right now and we need to take advantage of our strengths over our opponents (D, Gould and Hester(another #23 doing great things in Chicago, the legend continues!), then they should just shut up because I guarantee they wouldn't trade this team or Rex for another of our past ones (teams or QB's) since Diktka was our coach (E. Kramer had a pretty good year once didn't he) Go Rex! Go Bears!
April 14, 2007
Cool, schedule is out.
Sorry, but I've got to weigh in on some of these comments.
"We own the Packers at Lambeau." Sorry, but the Pack is 26-21 vs. the Bears at Lambeau.
How about Soldier(s) Field? Nope, the Packers are 19-16 vs. the Bears there too.
Doesn't Favre hold some of the passing records at that stadium? Like, number of touchdown passes or something?
Let's talk Superbowl. In the past 40 years, only two teams have lost the the big game, then returned to win (71 Cowboys and 72 Dolphins).
Didn't the Cowboys have a future hall of fame QB in Roger Staubach? No worries, you've got Rex Grossman!
Oh yeah, the other team. The 72 Dolphins. Aren't you people sick of hearing about them? Like since the only teams to threaten the undefeated record have been the 85 Bears (beaten by the Dolphins), then the vaunted 2006 squad, getting their a$$es handed to them at Soldier(s) Field by these same Dolphins?
Gotta piss you off.
Hey, buy you a beer if the Bears win on Columbus day weekend.
April 15, 2007
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