The NFL officially released its 2025 season schedule last week, after lots of teasing, NFL experts and insiders are looking at the roster of games and making predictions on which teams will dominate in the new season. When it comes to the Chicago Bears, the team has a doozie of a schedule, with the Bears tied with the Detroit Lions for having the second most difficult schedule in the NFL, according to the predicted “strength of schedule” for all 32 NFL teams.
Now, two high-profile NFL analysts are giving their predictions on how the Chicago Bears will do with that difficult schedule this season.
A So-So Chicago Bears Prediction
In a Fox Sports feature published on May 14, a team of experts give their predictions for each NFL team’s record for the 2025 season. In the piece, they state, “While a lot is bound to change from mid-May to kickoff at Lincoln Financial Field on September 4, our experts broke down every team’s schedule, predicting final records and offering insight and analysis.”
In the story, Carmen Vitali gives the Bears a 8-9 prediction. That’s better than last year but not great.
In the piece, Vitali notes that the team has “brought in Ben Johnson, the most highly coveted head-coaching candidate of this past cycle, to revamp everything. Johnson brought in a staff with both experience and new blood. He has put his stamp on the roster already, overhauling the interior of the offensive line and signing multiple defensive linemen in free agency.”
But, that doesn’t mean the Bears are heading to the Super Bowl in the 2025 season. “However, Rome wasn’t built in a day,” Vitali notes. “The Lions went 1-6 to start Johnson’s tenure as offensive coordinator in 2022. They averaged just 24.7 points per game during that seven-game span. While that’s better than the Bears’ 18.2 points per game average from last season, it’s a far cry from what we’ve come to expect from a Ben Johnson offense, which averaged a league-leading 33.1 points per game last year.”
In general, Vitali says to “let the Bears walk before they run, and if they outperform expectations, then great.”
A Better Chicago Bears Prediction
In a May 14 piece for Bleacher Report, Moe Moton gives his win-loss predictions for every team in the NFL for 2025. “Before you argue against the new projected division winners and playoff teams, remember that at least four new clubs have made the postseason every year since the league added a 17th game in 2021,” he says in the piece. “These predictions aren’t a copy-and-paste job from the 2024 standings; they’re a full assessment of what’s to come after an offseason of coaching hirings and roster moves.”
For the Bears, it’s a 10-7 prediction, so it’s better than the last prediction.
In the piece, Moton champions the Bears bringing on Johnson, stating, that the move “will result in significant progress” and that Johnson “can install a physical identity with the Bears’ revamped personnel group.”
He adds that “While Caleb Williams will garner most of the spotlight, the second-year quarterback should have a lot more help from the run game this year than he had with Chicago’s 25th-ranked rushing attack last season.” Finally, Moton says that Chicago should “have one of the league’s top offensive and defensive play-callers.”
