Bears 2025 NFL Schedule Released for Caleb Williams, Ben Johnson's 1st Year Together

Let the era of high expectations begin for the Chicago Bears.

While Chicago hasn't won a playoff game since the 2010 campaign, it will look to change that during the upcoming season. After all, it hired new head coach Ben Johnson after he helped the Detroit Lions become one of the best teams in the league as their offensive coordinator.

Full schedule information available on the team's official website

The plan is for Johnson to help quarterback Caleb Williams reach his full potential in his second season after he was the No. 1 overall pick of the 2024 NFL draft.

Chicago certainly surrounded Williams with enough talent to succeed, as it drafted tight end Colston Loveland and wide receiver Luther Burden III to be part of an offense that already featured DJ Moore, Rome Odunze and Cole Kmet. What's more, it bolstered its offensive line by adding Joe Thuney, Drew Dalman and Jonah Jackson.

Anything short of a playoff appearance will be seen as a disappointment for the Bears at this point.

Analysis

There is good news and bad news when it comes to the 2025 schedule for the Bears.

Cross-conference showdowns with the AFC North will be anything but easy, as the Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals all have realistic playoff expectations. Their own division, the NFC North, was also arguably the top one in the league last season with the other three teams all reaching the playoffs with a combined record of 40-11.

But Chicago does have an advantage in its schedule compared to the Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings because it finished in last place in that loaded NFC North.

That means a last-place schedule and additional games against the San Francisco 49ers, New Orleans Saints and Las Vegas Raiders, who all finished in last place in 2024 as well.

The Bears will need to take advantage of at least two of those matchups because a schedule with two matchups against each of the Lions, Packers and Vikings that also includes games against the reigning-champion Philadelphia Eagles, Bengals, Ravens, Steelers and Washington Commanders is notably difficult.

The playoffs may be the goal in Chicago, but the schedule makes accomplishing that anything but easy.

Pivotal Matchups

Chicago's season will largely be defined on how it performs against its division rivals.

It cannot realistically expect to compete in such a strong NFC North without some head-to-head wins, and fans will put particular emphasis on the showdowns with the rival Packers. Williams and Co. ended the 2024 campaign with a win over Green Bay and took some of that momentum into the offseason, so now it will look to build a winning streak against the rival.

Outside of the division, the games against the Commanders, 49ers and Dallas Cowboys stand out.

Going from last place to first place in a strong division may be too much to ask for the Bears this season even with the improvements they made along the offensive line and with Williams expected to make a jump in his second year.

That means head-to-head contests against other potential NFC wild-card contenders will take on even more importance, and the Cowboys, Commanders and 49ers could all find themselves in the middle of that race.

Chicago will need to win at least some of those games and handle itself well inside the division if it is going to deliver on those playoff expectations.