Bears Schedule Released
By Benjy Lipsman in News on Apr 14, 2005 3:45PM
The NFL released its 2005 schedule yesterday, which of course means we learn the Bears' 2005 schedule. Once again, the Bears are denied any Monday Night games. Their only prime time game is their Dec. 18th Sunday night game against Atlanta that will be shown on ESPN.
| Date | Opponent | Time |
| 9/11 | at Washington Redskins | 12:00 p.m. |
| 9/18 | Detroit Lions | 12:00 p.m. |
| 9/25 | Cinncinati Bengals | 12:00 p.m. |
| 10/2 | Bye | |
| 10/9 | at Cleveland Browns | 12:00 p.m. |
| 10/16 | Minnesota Vikings | 12:00 p.m. |
| 10/23 | Baltimore Ravens | 3:15 p.m. |
| 10/30 | at Detroit Lions | 12:00 p.m. |
| 11/6 | at New Orleans Saints | 12:00 p.m. |
| 11/13 | San Francisco 49ers | 12:00 p.m. |
| 11/20 | Carolina Panthers | 12:00 p.m. |
| 11/27 | at Tampa Bay Bucs | 12:00 p.m. |
| 12/4 | Green Bay Packers | 12:00 p.m. |
| 12/11 | at Pittsburgh Steelers | 12:00 p.m. |
| 12/18 | Atlanta Falcons | 7:30 p.m. |
| 12/25 | at Green Bay Packers | 4 p.m. |
| 1/1 | at Minnesota Vikings | 12:00 p.m. |
An interesting schedule, indeed. On account of their 5-11 schedule, they get to play a couple of the other cellar dwellers from last season -- San Fran and Washington. The NFC North plays the AFC North this year as well as the NFC South. Then there are the 6 games against NFC North rivals Detroit, Minnesota and Green Bay.
The schedule starts out fairly easy, but they have a rough final month! Their last 5 games are against Green Bay, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Green Bay and Minnesota. Those teams were a combined 54-26 last year!
Nonetheless, the Bears might contend for a playoff spot this year. Assuming Rex Grossman can return to the field and Ron Turner's offense can score more (hard not to!) they'll be a much better team. They've also added atop reciever in Muhammad and will likely add a top running back or reciever in the upcoming draft with the 4th pick. The Bears defense was decent last season in spite of the rash of injuries that cost them Peanut Tillman, Jerry Azumah, Mike Brown and Brian Urlacher for significant portions of the season.
Chicagoist's initial assessment of their Bears 2005 season is that they'll start off hot with their weak schedule and get to 8-3 or 9-2 before stumbling into a Wild Card spot at 9-7. Of course, there's still a lot of time between now and training camp...