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2. Chicago Bears
Schedule difficulty rating: 95.75
Easiest stretch: There were four quarterbacks who got selected in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft and there's a chance that the Bears will be facing three of them over a seven-week stretch where they could definitely rack up some up some wins. Starting in Week 3, the Bears' schedule looks like this: At Cardinals, Buccaneers, bye, at Dolphins, Patriots, Jets, at Bills. If you don't count the Patriots, every other team in that stretch currently has some huge question marks. For one, the Cardinals, Jets and Bills could all be starting rookies by the time they play the Bears. As for the Dolphins, they have a quarterback in Ryan Tannehill who hasn't taken a regular-season snap since 2016. Oh, and the Buccaneers are also having some quarterback issues. The game against Tampa is in Week 4, which theoretically means that it could end up being Jameis Winston's first game back from suspension. Since Winston won't be able to practice with the Bucs during the suspension, the Bears would see a rusty quarterback when they host Tampa.
Roughest stretch: If the NFL scheduling office was hoping to ruin the holiday season for Bears fans around the country, it almost certainly got the job done. Over the final four weeks of the season, it wouldn't be shocking to see the Bears go winless and that's because they have a December gauntlet. Starting in Week 14, the Bears have consecutive games against the Rams, Packers, 49ers (away) and the Vikings (away). The silver lining here for the Bears is that ... you know what, let's not get anyone's hopes up, there's no silver lining here.
Weird scheduling note: The Bears are basically going to become an honorary member of the AFC East this year. Starting in Week 6, the Bears will face all four teams in the division over a period of four weeks. If the Bears were to sweep that stretch, they could add an "AFC East Champs" T-shirt to the collection they started last year after going 4-0 against the AFC North.
...
If you're thinking about picking a team from the NFC to win the the Super Bowl this season, this might actually be the year you'll want to go ahead and pick the Packers.
For one, Tony Romo is already locked in on them, and if we learned one thing about Romo last year, it's that he's almost never wrong about anything.
"I think the Packers probably got better, maybe more than any team I saw this offseason," Romo recently told WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee. "If the secondary is a little bit better, I think they're the team to beat this year."
4. Green Bay Packers
Schedule difficulty rating: 86.25
Easiest stretch: The Packers actually have two easiest stretches, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, since they have the easiest schedule in the NFC. The Packers will be playing three of their first four games at home (Chicago, Minnesota, at Washington, Buffalo), which means there's a good chance they could get off to a hot start. Although the Minnesota game won't be easy, the Packers do have a small advantage in that Kirk Cousins will be playing only his second game ever for the Vikings. If Cousins isn't comfortable yet in Minnesota's offense, that could turn into a Green Bay rout.
As for the other easy stretch, Green Bay could end up running the table during the final month of the season and that's because the Packers have a December schedule that's basically an early Christmas gift from the NFL (Arizona, Atlanta, at Chicago, at NY Jets, Detroit). Before we move on, please take a second and look at those three home games. Can you guess what they have in common? They're all being played against domed teams. That's right, the NFL is sending three domed teams to Green Bay in December, which is basically the last place that any domed team wants to play during the coldest month of the football season. The first problem for the Cardinals, Falcons and Lions is that Rodgers is 15-0 in December home games dating back to 2009. The second problem for the three teams is that they are all .500 or worse in their past 10 December road games played outdoors (The Falcons and Lions are 4-6, the Cardinals are 5-5).
Roughest stretch: Although the Packers have the easiest schedule in the NFC, they still have one absolutely brutal stretch this season. Starting in Week 8, the Packers will play four games on the road in five weeks and if that sounds tough, just wait until you hear who they play. The stretch includes road games against the Rams (Week 8), the Patriots (Week 9), the Seahawks (Week 11) and the Vikings (Week 12) with all of those -- except for the L.A. game -- scheduled to air in primetime. Oh, and did we mention the Seahawks game is on a Thursday, which means the Packers will have to fly halfway across the country to play a game on three days rest. The breather in all of this will come in Week 10, when the Packers host the Dolphins. The good news for the Packers is that they have a bye in Week 7, which means they'll have an extra week to get healthy before starting their nightmare stretch.
Link to full article:
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...rth-packers-have-easiest-schedule-in-the-nfc/
2. Chicago Bears
Schedule difficulty rating: 95.75
Easiest stretch: There were four quarterbacks who got selected in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft and there's a chance that the Bears will be facing three of them over a seven-week stretch where they could definitely rack up some up some wins. Starting in Week 3, the Bears' schedule looks like this: At Cardinals, Buccaneers, bye, at Dolphins, Patriots, Jets, at Bills. If you don't count the Patriots, every other team in that stretch currently has some huge question marks. For one, the Cardinals, Jets and Bills could all be starting rookies by the time they play the Bears. As for the Dolphins, they have a quarterback in Ryan Tannehill who hasn't taken a regular-season snap since 2016. Oh, and the Buccaneers are also having some quarterback issues. The game against Tampa is in Week 4, which theoretically means that it could end up being Jameis Winston's first game back from suspension. Since Winston won't be able to practice with the Bucs during the suspension, the Bears would see a rusty quarterback when they host Tampa.
Roughest stretch: If the NFL scheduling office was hoping to ruin the holiday season for Bears fans around the country, it almost certainly got the job done. Over the final four weeks of the season, it wouldn't be shocking to see the Bears go winless and that's because they have a December gauntlet. Starting in Week 14, the Bears have consecutive games against the Rams, Packers, 49ers (away) and the Vikings (away). The silver lining here for the Bears is that ... you know what, let's not get anyone's hopes up, there's no silver lining here.
Weird scheduling note: The Bears are basically going to become an honorary member of the AFC East this year. Starting in Week 6, the Bears will face all four teams in the division over a period of four weeks. If the Bears were to sweep that stretch, they could add an "AFC East Champs" T-shirt to the collection they started last year after going 4-0 against the AFC North.
...
If you're thinking about picking a team from the NFC to win the the Super Bowl this season, this might actually be the year you'll want to go ahead and pick the Packers.
For one, Tony Romo is already locked in on them, and if we learned one thing about Romo last year, it's that he's almost never wrong about anything.
"I think the Packers probably got better, maybe more than any team I saw this offseason," Romo recently told WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee. "If the secondary is a little bit better, I think they're the team to beat this year."
4. Green Bay Packers
Schedule difficulty rating: 86.25
Easiest stretch: The Packers actually have two easiest stretches, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, since they have the easiest schedule in the NFC. The Packers will be playing three of their first four games at home (Chicago, Minnesota, at Washington, Buffalo), which means there's a good chance they could get off to a hot start. Although the Minnesota game won't be easy, the Packers do have a small advantage in that Kirk Cousins will be playing only his second game ever for the Vikings. If Cousins isn't comfortable yet in Minnesota's offense, that could turn into a Green Bay rout.
As for the other easy stretch, Green Bay could end up running the table during the final month of the season and that's because the Packers have a December schedule that's basically an early Christmas gift from the NFL (Arizona, Atlanta, at Chicago, at NY Jets, Detroit). Before we move on, please take a second and look at those three home games. Can you guess what they have in common? They're all being played against domed teams. That's right, the NFL is sending three domed teams to Green Bay in December, which is basically the last place that any domed team wants to play during the coldest month of the football season. The first problem for the Cardinals, Falcons and Lions is that Rodgers is 15-0 in December home games dating back to 2009. The second problem for the three teams is that they are all .500 or worse in their past 10 December road games played outdoors (The Falcons and Lions are 4-6, the Cardinals are 5-5).
Roughest stretch: Although the Packers have the easiest schedule in the NFC, they still have one absolutely brutal stretch this season. Starting in Week 8, the Packers will play four games on the road in five weeks and if that sounds tough, just wait until you hear who they play. The stretch includes road games against the Rams (Week 8), the Patriots (Week 9), the Seahawks (Week 11) and the Vikings (Week 12) with all of those -- except for the L.A. game -- scheduled to air in primetime. Oh, and did we mention the Seahawks game is on a Thursday, which means the Packers will have to fly halfway across the country to play a game on three days rest. The breather in all of this will come in Week 10, when the Packers host the Dolphins. The good news for the Packers is that they have a bye in Week 7, which means they'll have an extra week to get healthy before starting their nightmare stretch.
Link to full article:
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...rth-packers-have-easiest-schedule-in-the-nfc/
