It might seem like an entire season ago, but there was a time when the Chicago Bears were the top seed in the NFC at 5-1. One of the complaints was that the Bears were playing a relatively easy schedule. While it’s true they were beating bad teams — as they should’ve been doing — when all was said and done, they ultimately played one of the most difficult schedules in the NFL.
The Bears had the hardest strength of schedule of any postseason team, according to Football Outsiders. Chicago had the ninth most-difficult schedule, which ranked just ahead of the Los Angeles Rams (10th) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (11th).
Playoff Team SOS:
9. CHI #DaBears
10. LAR #RamsHouse
11. TB #GoBucs
16. NO #Saints
19. SEA #Seahawks
21. BUF #BillsMafia
23. GB #GoPackGo
25. KC #ChiefsKingdom
26. TEN #Titans
28. WAS #WashingtonFootball
29. BAL #RavensFlock
30. CLE #Browns
31. PIT #HereWeGo
32. IND #ForTheShoe— Butkus Stats & Analytics (@ButkusStats) January 7, 2021
Obviously the caveat is that the Bears beat just one team with a winning record this season, which was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back in Week 5. They posted six losses to teams with winning records, including four playoff teams in the Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams Indianapolis Colts, Tennessee Titans and New Orleans Saints.
Chicago will look to reverse their misfortunes against winning teams on Sunday when they face New Orleans in the wild-card round.
.png?w=600)
