Packers await in prime time
Here’s who the Bears play in 2022 — and our predictions for each matchup
The Bears schedule is set for what is bound to be a rebuilding season under new general manager Ryan Poles and coach Matt Eberflus.
That said, the Bears still get the national spotlight a few times this season with three prime-time games — including one against the rival Green Bay Packers.
Here’s how our trio of Bears reporters sees the season playing out.
Week 1
Bears vs. 49ers, Sunday, Sept. 11, noon, FOX-32:
In order to jump up nine slots in the 2021 draft, the 49ers traded their first-round picks in 2022 and 2023 plus a 2021 thirdround selection to the Miami Dolphins. That was an expensive vote of confidence from general manager John Lynch and coach
Kyle Shanahan in quarterback Trey Lance, whom the 49ers selected at No. 3. Could this be Lance’s first NFL start? At Soldier Field? In a showdown against fellow Class of 2021 quarterback Justin Fields? (Oh, yeah, this will also be the Bears’ home opener, raising the curtain on the Eberflus era.)
Tribune picks:
Brad Biggs: 49ers
Colleen Kane: 49ers
Dan Wiederer: 49ers
Week 2
Bears at Packers, Sunday, Sept. 18, 7:20 p.m., NBC-5:
Eberflus better have his H.I.T.S. principle fully engrained by the end of August. The new coach’s first attempt to slow down Aaron Rodgers comes early. Including the playoffs, Rodgers is 23-5 as a starter against the Bears. That includes a 12-1 mark in games at Lambeau Field that he has both started and finished. Rodgers also has shown a knack for embarrassing the Bears on the Sunday night stage, beating them six times in six tries with four of those victories by double digits.
Tribune picks: Biggs: Packers Kane: Packers Wiederer: Packers
Week 3
Bears vs. Texans, Sunday, Sept. 25, noon, CBS-2: Lovie Smith went 0-2 against the Bears as coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, including a 21-13 loss in his return to Soldier Field in November 2014. Now he’s starting anew in Houston and facing an uphill battle with a Texans team that went 8-25 over the last two seasons and is widely considered one of the NFL’s three worst. Carpe diem, Bears. Carpe diem.
Tribune picks:
Biggs: Bears
Kane: Bears
Wiederer: Bears
Week 4
Bears at Giants, Sunday, Oct. 2, noon, FOX-32: The Bears have used the Giants as a pain reliever in three of the last four seasons. Win. Win. Win. Albeit in games that had minimal entertainment value. Last season’s Week 17 meeting at Soldier Field was a 29-3 blowout in which the Giants finished with minus-6 net passing yards. Could this early-October trip be part of a welcome early stretch that offers an opportunity to build momentum and belief? Or will Brian Daboll, a candidate for the Bears coaching job last winter, have the Giants offense rolling?
Tribune picks:
Biggs: Giants
Kane: Bears
Wiederer: Giants
Week 5
Bears at Vikings, Sunday, Oct. 9, noon, FOX-32: The Bears haven’t traveled to the Twin Cities before Thanksgiving since 2006. This season they’ll finally get a sampling of what fall is like in Minneapolis. This will also be the Bears’ first look at a Vikings organization that went into full reboot mode in January, hiring Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as their GM and Kevin O’Connell as coach.
Tribune picks:
Biggs: Vikings
Kane: Vikings
Wiederer: Vikings
Week 6
Bears vs. Commanders, Thursday, Oct. 13, 7:15 p.m., Prime Video: If anyone should have a full understanding of how to fluster new Commanders quarterback Carson Wentz, it’s Eberflus and Bears defensive coordinator Alan Williams, who saw Wentz in practice every day last season with the Indianapolis Colts. Wentz, it should be noted, is 3-0 all time as a starter against the Bears. In another head-scratching and dispiriting trivia nugget, the Bears are 1-8 against Washington at Soldier Field since winning Super Bowl XX.
Tribune picks:
Biggs: Bears
Kane: Bears
Wiederer: Bears
Week 7
Bears at Patriots, Monday, Oct. 24, 7:15 p.m., ESPN: This “Monday Night Football” contest at Gillette Stadium will showcase Fields versus Mac Jones in a rematch of the January 2021 college football national title game. (Jones and Alabama downed Fields and Ohio State 52-24.) For what it’s worth, the Bears haven’t beaten the Patriots since 2000, back Dick Jauron was their coach, Shane Matthews was starting at quarterback and Tom Brady was just an obscure rookie backup in New England. Since then? The Patriots, with Brady at the steering wheel, have beaten the Bears five times in a row by an average score of 35-21. Brady threw for 1,595 yards with 14 touchdown passes in those matchups. But hey, a new era is upon us. Who knows, right?
Tribune picks:
Biggs: Patriots
Kane: Patriots
Wiederer: Patriots
Week 8
Bears at Dallas Cowboys, Sunday, Oct. 30, noon, FOX-32: Rookie defensive backs Kyler Gordon and Jaquan Brisker should be in midseason form by this point, which is a must as the Bears head to Jerry World attempting to slow an offensive fireworks show featuring Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, Ezekiel Elliott and Dalton Schultz. Meanwhile, young defensive stars Micah
Parsons and Trevon Diggs have the Cowboys eyeing a Super Bowl run.
Tribune picks:
Biggs: Cowboys
Kane: Cowboys
Wiederer: Cowboys
Week 9
Bears vs. Dolphins, Sunday, Nov. 6, noon, CBS-2: While Eberflus might face a steep uphill climb trying to install his program and change the culture in his first season, he should take solace that he is not alone in that mission. More than a quarter of the teams in the league changed head coaches after last season, including the Dolphins, who replaced Brian Flores with Mike McDaniel.
Tribune picks:
Biggs: Dolphins
Kane: Dolphins
Wiederer: Bears
Week 10
Bears vs. Lions, Sunday, Nov. 13, noon, FOX-32: The Lions have quietly positioned themselves to be playoff contenders with a promising nucleus of young talent that includes first-round picks Aidan Hutchinson and Jameson Williams. Yes, they still need a plan at quarterback beyond Jared Goff. But there has been a recent surge of optimism in Detroit about the direction of things under coach Dan Campbell.
Tribune picks:
Biggs: Bears
Kane: Bears
Wiederer: Lions
Week 11
Bears at Falcons, Sunday, Nov. 20, noon, FOX-32: The Falcons have two of the most exciting young pass-catching talents in the league with tight end Kyle Pitts and receiver Drake London. The big question: Which Falcons quarterback will be throwing the ball in November? Bridge quarterback Marcus Mariota or rookie Desmond Ridder?
Tribune picks:
Biggs: Bears
Kane: Bears
Wiederer: Bears
Week 12
Bears at Jets, Sunday, Nov. 27, noon, FOX-32: The retooling Jets grabbed four exciting players in the first 36 picks of last month’s draft.
Cornerback Sauce Gardner, receiver Garrett Wilson, edge rusher Jermaine Johnson and running back Breece Hall figure to play prominent roles in 2022 for a floundering franchise that is refilling on hope. Of course, most of that hinges on the development of second-year quarterback Zach Wilson, who could be in line here to be the third Class of 2021 first-round quarterback to go head-to-head with Fields.
Tribune picks:
Biggs: Jets
Kane: Bears
Wiederer: Jets
Week 13
Bears vs. Packers, Sunday, Dec. 4, noon, FOX-32: Aaron Rodgers’ field trip to Soldier Field last season seemed like it might be setting up to be his final such excursion to Chicago as Packers quarterback. Instead, Rodgers found 200 million reasons to run it back for at least another couple of years. Ol’ No. 12 just seems to have that knack for torturing Bears fans in the cruelest of ways.
Tribune picks:
Biggs: Packers
Kane: Packers
Wiederer: Packers
Week 14: Bye
The Bears’ Week 14 bye is late — very late. So late, in fact, that it’s the latest since 1999, which also came in Week 14.
Week 15
Bears vs. Eagles, Sunday, Dec. 18, noon, FOX-32: In an attempt to get young quarterback Jalen Hurts the weaponry he needs, the Eagles got aggressive, trading for A.J. Brown and then giving the big-play receiver a four-year, $100 million extension. As the Bears continue tweaking the ideal formula for Fields’ development, Brown’s production is at least worth monitoring.
Tribune picks:
Biggs: Bears
Kane: Eagles
Wiederer: Eagles
Week 16
Bears vs. Bills, Saturday, Dec. 24, noon, CBS-2: Just leaving this here as a Christmas Eve stocking stuffer. Fields had a completion percentage of .589 and a passer rating of 73.2 as a rookie, throwing for 1,870 yards with seven touchdown passes in 12 games. Three years earlier, Bills quarterback Josh Allen had a completion percentage of .528 and a passer rating of 67.9, throwing for 2,074 yards with 10 touchdown passes in 12 games. Now Allen is a favorite for league MVP honors and eyeing a possible charge to the Super Bowl. We’re not saying … we’re just saying.
Tribune picks:
Biggs: Bills
Kane: Bills
Wiederer: Bills
Week 17
Bears at Lions, Sunday, Jan. 1, noon, FOX-32: Happy New Year! The Bears have won at Ford Field four years in a row, and this is the team’s only road game after Week 12. Who knows? Maybe this becomes part of a solid finish that propels a young Bears team into 2023 with momentum and confidence.
Tribune picks:
Biggs: Lions
Kane: Lions
Wiederer: Bears
Week 18
Bears vs. Vikings, Date/time TBD: The Bears and Vikings have become close season-finale buddies, meeting on the final Sunday of the regular season seven times over the last 11 years. This time, however, Soldier Field will be the stage for the finale. Will there be anything at stake besides draft positioning?
Tribune picks:
Biggs: Bears
Kane: Bears
Wiederer: Vikings
Season predictions
Brad Biggs: 6-11
There should be great buildup for the season opener against the 49ers for a game between franchises that traded up to draft quarterbacks in 2021 — and took very different approaches in preparing their signal caller. 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan was adamant Trey Lance, the No. 3 pick, would learn behind Jimmy Garoppolo. The Bears were forced to turn to Justin Fields in Week 2 when Andy Dalton was injured and then stuck with him until he was sidelined with an injury. Fields has more experience, including at the college level, while Lance is on a far better roster.
The development of Fields will be one of if not the most important storyline. The Bears play three other quarterbacks drafted in 2021 besides Lance: Davis Mills of the Texans (Week 3), Mac Jones of the Patriots (Week 7) and Zach Wilson of the Jets (Week 12). Those head-to-head battles will be measuring sticks. Colleen Kane: 7-10
The Bears’ strength of schedule is tied for 24th in the league, according to NFL.com, so perhaps there’s an opportunity for a largely unproven group of players and coaches to pull off a couple of surprise wins. But there’s so much unknown about this team, including where Justin Fields’ development is headed under new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, whether Fields can succeed with the current group of linemen and receivers and how a defense without Khalil Mack takes shape under Eberflus. It’s hard to predict anything other than a losing record in the first year of Poles’ remodeling project.
6-11
It’s easy to look at the Bears schedule and identify windows of opportunity. A chance for a faster-than-expected start? Sure. It’s not unreasonable for the Bears to be competitive enough to win three of their first six. A late-season stretch in which they play only one road game after Thanksgiving weekend? That sets up a potentially comforting finish. And man, this year’s list of opposing starting quarterbacks is nowhere near as intimidating as last season’s. OK. Think positive. Perhaps this won’t be as painful of a season as it seemed.
But then? Well, reality speaks up. In a bold and doubtful tone.
Dan Wiederer:
Through a rational lens, the 50,000-foot view remains the same. This figures to be a long season. As results go, this sets up to be a transition season that likely will be low on landmark moments and signature victories.