The Five Most Intriguing Games on the Chicago Bears Schedule

The National Football League released its schedule for the 2023-2024 regular season on Thursday, May 11th. The Chicago Bears have four primetime games and a week 13 bye. Besides their divisional opponents, the Bears will play every AFC West and NFC South team, as well as the Arizona Cardinals and Washington Commanders, two teams that finished with the same division placement as the Bears. The Bears have the 18th easiest strength of schedule in the NFL. The Bears’ favorable schedule should have them in the hunt for a Wild Card spot. It’s too early to predict the outcomes of each individual game. So much can happen from now until the season starts. That said, here are five games I am most intrigued by this upcoming season.

Week 10 vs. Carolina Panthers (Thursday Night Football)
Location: Soldier Field
The Justin Fields or Bryce Young debate was popular amongst sports outlets like ESPN. Why did they entertain those debates? Because they were bored and had nothing else to discuss after the Super Bowl. Now, Fields and Young will meet for the first time on Thursday Night Football.

Panthers fans are trying to cope with trading away DJ Moore in the trade for the number one overall pick. Some Panthers fans say Moore was never that good to ignore that the Carolina front office was fleeced. The last time a star wide receiver went up against the team that traded him away was when AJ Brown went up against the Tennessee Titans last December. In that game, Brown had 119 receiving yards and two touchdowns on eight receptions. Hopefully, Moore can have a similar impact when he faces off against his former team.

Darnell Wright and Braxton Jones will have a chance to face off against Brian Burns. Burns had a career-high 12.5 sacks last year and has recorded at least 7.5 sacks in each of his four years as a pro.

This game also has draft implications. The Bears own the Panthers’ first-round pick in 2024. If the Bears win, they could help their potential playoff chances while simultaneously improving their draft position.

Week 1 vs. Green Bay Packers
Location: Soldier Field
The first game the Chicago Bears play this season will be against the Green Bay Packers in the first chapter of the “Justin Fields vs. Jordan Love” era. The Packers no longer have the best quarterback in the division, and this will mark Love’s first career start against the Bears. He will get to play against a subpar Bears’ defensive line. Outside of the quarterbacks, the main matchups in this game will be DJ Moore against Jaire Alexander and Christian Watson against the young and talented Bears secondary. Since this is the first game of the season, I expect both teams to run the ball a lot. The running back rooms for both teams are loaded. The Bears will have to slow down Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon, and the Packers will have to slow down a Bears team that boasted the NFL’s number-one rushing offense last year.

If the Bears were to win this game, it would be a massive boost in morale for both Bears’ fans and the players themselves.

Week 8 at Los Angeles Chargers (Sunday Night Football)
Location: SoFi Stadium
Justin Fields versus Justin Herbert. The NFL is desperately trying to promote their teams in Los Angeles. This is one of six primetime games that the Los Angeles Chargers have. In my opinion, Justin Herbert is a top-five quarterback in the NFL. Herbert’s arsenal of pass catchers includes Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Austin Ekeler, Gerald Everett, rookie Quentin Johnston and under-the-radar targets Joshua Palmer and Jalen Guyton. This will be a tall task for the Bears’ defense.

Aside from the two Justins, this game gives Khalil Mack a chance to get revenge. One of Ryan Poles’ first moves as a general manager was trading Mack to the Chargers for a second-round pick. Mack’s partner in crime is the dangerous Joey Bosa. Assuming both can stay healthy, Mack and Bosa will challenge the Bears revamped offensive line.

Week 11 at Detroit Lions
Location: Ford Field
Lions fans are boasting about their team’s success last season. The Lions finished with a 9-8 record, but missed the playoffs. Detroit had a top-five offense last season, as shown when Jared Goff and the Detroit passing game tore up the Bears’ secondary last season. Last year, Goff passed for a combined 491 yards and four touchdowns in two games against the Bears. The speedy Jameson Williams will be back from suspension and will face the Bears for the time in his career. The Bears’ defense must also contain Amon-Ra St. Brown and rookie Jahmyr Gibbs.

David Montgomery, former Bears running back, replaced Jamaal Williams in Detroit. Montgomery left Detroit because Ryan Poles didn’t offer him enough money. He will get a chance to prove to Poles that the Bears should’ve kept him.

Detroit’s general manager, Brad Holmes, signed Cameron Sutton, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, and Emmanuel Moseley in the offseason to help improve a Lions defense that ranked 28th in points allowed and last in yards allowed last season. The Bears have to be weary of Aidan Hutchinson, who had nine tackles, 1.5 sacks, and an interception in two games against the Bears last season.

The Chicago Bears drafted middle linebacker Noah Sewell, the younger brother of Lions offensive tackle Penei Sewell, in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft. The two Sewell brothers will get to face each other twice this season. Whether they are on the field together simultaneously depends on whether the younger Sewell brother can beat out Jack Sanborn for a spot in the starting lineup.

The Lions and the Bears are seen as the best two teams in the division, and this game could play a big part in the race for the division title.

Week 12 at Minnesota Vikings (Monday Night Football)
Location: U.S. Bank Stadium
Kirk Cousins and Monday Night Football do not mix well. In his career, Cousins is 2-10 on Monday Night Football, and both wins have come against the Bears. However, those wins came against Nick Foles and Justin Fields, and Matt Nagy was the head coach in both instances. It’s a different era in Chicago now. Bears’ offensive coordinator Luke Getsy is in charge of the offense now, and Matt Eberflus has instilled a proven identity in his team. The Bears are now a well-coached, effort-based team, unlike the “Nagy teams” of the past.

No receiver on the Bears’ roster can impact a game like Justin Jefferson can, and now Jefferson has a new partner in crime. The Vikings spent their first-round pick on wide receiver Jordan Addison, who won the Fred Biletnikoff Award in 2021 for the nation’s best receiver. He’ll be a threat in the NFC North for years to come.

The Chicago Bears might’ve won last year’s week five game against Minnesota if not for a costly fumble by Ihmir Smith-Marsette. In that game, Justin Fields passed for 208 yards and one touchdown. He had a completion percentage of 71.4% and a quarterback rating of 118.8. The Vikings did not face Fields when he was tearing apart opposing defenses with his legs. The Bears are a different team compared to last October. I predict both Bears vs. Vikings games this year to be shootouts.

It is an exciting time to be a Bears fan. Justin Fields is going into his third season as an NFL quarterback and will make a big jump in his development. The Bears signed 12 veterans in free agency and drafted ten rookies. In Matt Eberflus’ second season as a head coach, I expect the Bears to be even more competitive.