The Chicago Bears revealed their 2023 schedule last week, which features some intriguing matchups.
Chicago will open the season at home against the Green Bay Packers — and they’ll also close it against the Packers at Lambeau Field. They’ll also play in four prime-time games, including matchups against the Los Angeles Chargers, Minnesota Vikings, Carolina Panthers and Washington Commanders.
Coming off a 3-14 record, oddsmakers have set the Bears’ win total at 7.5 games, which would be more than double their total from last year. With an improved roster and with the expectation that quarterback Justin Fields takes a big step forward, it’s not a surprise.
Here’s a collection of all of the record predictions for the Bears from various media outlets, where most experts are banking on under 7.5 wins.
ESPN: Over 7.5 wins
ESPN‘s Mike Clay believes the Bears will eclipse their win total of 7.5. Sports betting analyst Tyler Fulghum agrees.
This is my favorite team to bet in the division. I am very bullish on the Bears in 2023 and beyond. It starts with QB Justin Fields, who I think is a certified star in the making. GM Ryan Poles has done a very good job fortifying the talent around him on offense, so I think he takes a big leap this season in his development. The defense is still a work in progress, so I’m expecting this team to be involved in a lot of entertaining shootouts. Bottom line: I am betting big on Fields and the Bears taking a significant leap.
CBS Sports: 6-11
CBS Sports’ Will Brinson believes the Bears could surprise this season, but he’s sticking with his six-win prediction.
I actually like the Bears a bit this year, largely because the improvements around Justin Fields moves up the range of outcomes for Chicago on a week-to-week basis. The Bears getting in the mix for this division wouldn’t be surprising at all.
Pro Football Focus: Under 7.5 wins
Pro Football Focus‘ Dalton Wasserman and Jim Wyman believe it’s hard to figure out how good Chicago will be in 2023. But they’re still taking the under on 7.5 wins.
The Bears may be the toughest team to read in the NFL. Almost every year, someone goes worst to first. They play a reasonably soft schedule and kept some games close last year. They still ended the year as the worst team in football, though. Justin Fields has to be better from the pocket, as Chicago won’t go anywhere if he doesn’t better his 54.4 passing grade. The Bears could win anywhere from four to 11 games. We’ll have to see the latter happen before we believe it.
Fox Sports: 8-9
Fox Sports‘ Carmen Vitali has the Bears winning eight games in 2023.
The Bears are about to start the season off with a bang, hosting their bitter rivals at Soldier Field for Packers quarterback Jordan Love’s first start. Chicago has four prime-time slots this season. The maximum a club can have is five. Depending on their record and how competitive the NFC North ends up being, the rematch of Week 1 in Week 18 could very well end up being that fifth slot. Chicago will also get all four AFC West teams in the first half of the season, leaving room for a late-season turnaround and four to five winnable games following their Week 13 bye.
Sports Illustrated: 5-12
Sports Illustrated‘s Gilberto Manzano doesn’t have confidence in the Bears in 2023, where he thinks they’ll only win two more games than last season.
The Bears had a productive offseason, trading for wide receiver DJ Moore and stockpiling draft picks to fill the various holes on their roster, but they’re probably a year away from being taken seriously. First, quarterback Justin Fields needs to prove he’s a franchise-worthy quarterback. And most importantly, the Bears need drastic improvements on the offensive and defensive lines. Offensive tackle Darnell Wright and defensive tackle Gervon Dexter Sr.—Chicago’s first two picks in the draft—might help bolster those areas of concern. The Bears have a tough schedule, but they have winnable games against the Cardinals, Buccaneers and Broncos.
Pro Football Network: 7-10
Pro Football Network‘s Ian Valentino believes Justin Fields will be key in Chicago’s success this season.
The NFC North looks ready for a battle of middling rosters. Chicago did well to maximize their assets this offseason, adding Tremaine Edmunds, DJ Moore, and Darnell Wright. The overall depth of the roster looks much healthier than it did last year, and now the challenge is to develop playmakers.
Quarterback Justin Fields will be at the forefront of that. He’s on his way to being a franchise quarterback after the Bears bolstered his receiving room and offensive line. The bar has been raised for this team to become competitive as they learn to win with young talent all over.
A favorable home schedule will help them rack up wins, but their road journey is difficult. Going to the Saints and Browns will test their young fortitude, and they caught a tough break by going to Kansas City and not playing the Chiefs in Germany instead.
Bleacher Report: 6-11
Bleacher Report‘s Kristopher Knox still believes the Bears are a year away from contending.
The Chicago Bears had the NFL’s least talented roster in 2022, but they had a promising young quarterback in Justin Fields, who rushed for more than 1,100 yards in just his second pro season.
Now, it’s all about developing Fields as a passer, and the Bears have put in work to support their quarterback. General manager Ryan Poles traded the No. 1 pick in the draft, acquired wideout DJ Moore as part of the deal and added the likes of Nate Davis, Robert Tonyan and rookie tackle Darnell Wright.
A Chicago defense that ranked dead last in points allowed last season should also be better, with veterans such as T.J. Edwards, Tremaine Edmunds, Andrew Billings and DeMarcus Walker and rookie Gervon Dexter Sr. incoming.
The Bears will be better in 2023, and with a middle-of-the-road schedule, they should see a jump in win total too. The size of the jump will depend largely on how much growth Fields shows in his third season.
Chicago is probably still a year away from being a playoff team, but it won’t be an embarrassment.
NBC Sports Chicago: 7-10
NBC Sports Chicago‘s Josh Schrock believes the Bears could be in the mix for a wild-card spot — if they get off to a strong start.
The Bears get a soft start to the season with games against Jordan Love, Baker Mayfield, and Sam Howell in three of their first five. They have to take advantage of that before a tough seven-game stretch in the middle of the year bookended by two games against the Vikings.
If the Bears can come out of their Week 13 bye at 5-7 or 6-6, they’ll have a shot to take advantage of a favorable finish to the schedule and push for a wild-card berth. But that will require them to stay healthy, execute, and take care of business in the early part of the season.
Bear Report: 8-9
Bear Report‘s Aaron Leming believes it could be a slow start for Chicago, but he’s taking the over on 7.5 wins.
After winning just three games all of last season, fans should be expecting substantial improvement. I truly believe that the Bears could push for the final Wild Card spot this season if all goes right. The thing is, this is a team that will take some time to gel and is on the younger side. The roster has seen a lot of changes in the past two seasons and because of that, they’ll need to learn how to win. I’m sure things won’t simply be as fluid as I make them seem in this projection but I do think we’ll end the 2023 regular season feeling extremely good about the future of this franchise. Vegas’ current (7.5) win total feels accurate, which explains how I had them in the eight-win category when all is said and done.
Bears Wire: 9-8
Bears Wire‘s Alyssa Barbieri is feeling optimistic at this point in the offseason, predicting Chicago will win nine games.
Given we’re still several months from the start of the season, there’s no reason not to be a little optimistic at this point. For the Bears, finishing 9-8 would certainly be respectable after finishing with the worst record in the league in 2022. Overall, Chicago has a favorable schedule. Not that it’s worth much given the turnover in the league. Aside from some juggernauts, including the Chiefs and Chargers, there are plenty of winnable games on this schedule for the Bears. We’ll see how things shake out with a Chicago team with plenty to prove heading into 2023.
