Let’s Get the Bears to Super Bowl 57: Part One

Bears currently have +6500 odds to win this season’s Lombardi. Let’s make it happen!

Let’s get the Chicago Bears to the Super Bowl.

Yeah, that’s a tall task. Most sources have the Bears in the bottom fourth of the league in terms of odds, and it is not too difficult to see why. The roster is currently full of question marks, there’s a new coaching staff in town, and even if the team overcomes those issues do they really have a roster capable of beating the best of the best in the NFL?

But let’s have some fun and plan out a scenario in which the Bears get to, and possibly even win, Super Bowl LVII. In this multi-part series, I am going to go over the Bears upcoming schedule and plot out a season in which the Bears get to the promised land.

For my process, I predicted every game this upcoming season involving an NFC team, created division results to see who reaches the playoffs, and then went through and predicted each playoff game leading to the Super Bowl.

For the Bears, I made my initial record prediction and then “messed around” with some of the results to actually get the Bears to the postseason. Essentially, if there was a toss-up game I originally thought the Bears would lose, but I needed to pick up a win to get them to the playoffs, I would take that game and come up with a scenario in which they win it.

Couple things to keep in mind:

• I did try to keep this as realistic as possible. I do not have the Bears going 17-0 and cruising their way to the Super Bowl, because even if they do somehow get there, that is not going to be the way they do it.
• This hypothetical season is based off the Bears current roster. What the roster looked like when I wrote this and made my predictions is the roster this project is based on.
• I only got creative with the Bears games. What I mean is that the Bears’ results are the only ones I played around with in order to get the result I needed. I did not go back on any of my initial predictions for other teams’ results in order to help the Bears out.

With all that being said, let’s begin this journey of getting the Monster of the Midway to State Farm Stadium on February 12th, starting with weeks one through four.

Week 1: 49ers – On paper, the Niners are the much more complete team; strong defense, good offense with one of the league’s better offensive coaches behind the helm, and a much more proven track record (who can forget this team’s last second victory over the Packers last postseason on their way to the NFC Championship Game). But there is one question mark that I think will give the Bears a chance in this one: quarterback. For as many questions there are surrounding how Justin Fields will do in year two with the Bears, the Niners’ QB situation is also kinda messy. Jimmy Garoppolo has been criticized for not being enough to get his team over the hump and has had plenty of trade rumors surround him this offseason. Meanwhile, the jury is still out on last year’s third overall pick Trey Lance. But in the end, I think we get a repeat of last year’s matchup between these teams; a close affair ending with the Niners pulling out the win, but with a little more defense this time.

Record After Week 1: 0-1

Week 2: @Packers – This one will be quick. There is just no scenario in which I see this Bear’s team marching into Lambeau, on primetime, and coming away with a win. Even with the Packers losing some key personnel this offseason like star wide receiver Devante Adams and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, they’re still a formidable team with one of the league’s top players at quarterback. Plus, Bears-Packer at Lambeau on Sunday Night Football? Not a great combo in recent history.

Record After Week 2: 0-2

Week 3: Texans – Bears get their first win of the season here in a game they should absolutely win. Texans are in full rebuild mode and aren’t boasting much talent on the roster besides Brandin Cooks and possibly Derek Stingley Jr. To be fair, Davis Mills actually looked somewhat capable last season for the Texans (263/394, 2,664yds., 16td, 10int.), but the Bears should be able to maintain enough pressure on a Texans’ offense, who ranked last in the league last year in yards/game, while the Bears offense should have a good game against a Texans defense that let up the second most yards/game last year.

Record After Week 3: 1-2

Week 4: @Giants – Another must win game if the Bears wish to see postseason action. There is a bit more optimism surrounding the Giants this year after a honestly great offseason. The team nabbed one of the offseason’s hottest coaching prospects in Brian Daboll, while also picking up Evan Neal and Kayvon Thibodeaux in the draft, both of whom were projected to go first overall at some point or another this draft process. However, the Giants are still putting their eggs in the Daniel Jones basket, which has not proved fruitful thus far in his career. On top of that, I think this is the game we really see Fields break out. New York’s secondary looks unproven after the recent release of James Bradberry, so Fields, Mooney, and co. should have an absolute field day. While the Giants put up more of a fight than last season’s 29-3 drubbing by the Bears, the Bears still fluster Jones enough and use the passing game to take down the G-men.

Record After Week 4: 2-2

Stay tuned for part two, which will cover weeks five through eight.