The Chicago Bears started preparations for the 2024 season today, marking the first day of the team's voluntary offseason program.
That means that the next football season is just around the corner and will likely be here before we even know it. There's a lot of excitement being build in Halas Hall regarding the Bears' upcoming season and for good reason.
The Bears will be entering a new era in 2024 but will be mixing it with some of the good outcomes from the 2023 season. Head coach Matt Eberflus will be returning with the majority of his defensive core on the roster and the offense is now expected to be lead by quarterback Caleb Williams, whom the team will be expected to select with the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft at the end of next week.
The Bears had their fair share of success and disappointments during the 2023 season, leading to a 7-10 finish, which ranked last in the NFC North once again. However, the team has gone through a major overhaul this offseason and all signs are pointing up.
Not only will the Bears have some major new weapons to deploy in 2024, but the team will also be benefiting from finishing last in the division. After finishing last in the NFC North, the Bears will play the teams who finished in last place from the NFC South (Carolina Panthers) and NFC East (Washington Commanders), along with the NFC West and AFC South divisions. But, there's even more to the story.
Based on the project win totals for next season from Vegas oddsmakers, the Bears are projected to have the third easiest schedule in the league, according to Sharp Football Analytics. For those worried about the accuracy of that projection, here's what the Sharp Football Staff projections revealed following the 2023 season: "Of the 15 teams predicted to have the easiest 2023 schedules, 11 finished with winning records," seven of those 11 teams made playoffs.
This means even more for the Bears than any other team considering how they played in 2023 against various opponents. As Warren Sharp laid out on X, formally known as Twitter, the Bears were 1-6 vs playoff teams, 6-4 vs non-playoff teams, 1-7 vs teams above .500, and 6-3 vs teams below .500.
In theory, that should make sense, the Bears were great against bottom teams in the league and struggled against great teams. How does it relate to next season?
By having the projected third easiest strength of schedule in the league, the Bears are slated to play a high percentage of teams that are not projected to be good in 2024. All while the team will be returning the majority of one of the league's best defenses while Williams takes over at quarterback under Shane Waldron's new offense.
The writing is all over the wall for the Bears to find immediate success in 2024, saying their new rookie quarterback is ready to hit the ground running in Year 1.
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