New head coach Matt Eberflus and the Chicago Bears were blessed with a favorable 2022 schedule in terms of opponents win percentage from a year ago. But the season’s slate will be grinding.
The Bears will have to wait a while during the 2021 regular season before they get a break. Week 14, in December, is the Bears’ scheduled bye week.
Matt Eberflus is not worried about the late bye week
Eberflus, on his 52nd birthday, gave a strong response to the media when asked about the team’s late bye week.
“I could care less,” Eberflus said on Tuesday. “It does not matter. It is what it is and we got to play the schedule.”
As a football coach, Eberflus said he and the staff are looking at the schedule and coming up with a plan to find creative ways to get players breaks during the season.
“It’s very important because you want to get your guys fresh into the game, so you’re certainly looking at that,” he said.
Bears have a grueling schedule
The first “break” the Bears will have from September 11, the start of the regular season, and week 14, December 11, will be after the Bears’ Thursday Night Football game against the Washington Commanders on October 13. Bears players will have a week and a half before playing the New England Patriots on Monday Night Football, October 24.
The Bears will have to push through from then until the Bye week following the December 4th contest against the divisional rival Green Bay Packers. The Bears will have to play through injury issues early in the season. This could be a problem with the lack of depth projected at many positions. Young rosters like the Bears would benefit from an earlier bye as they could adjust and rework their scheme. But that’s something more difficult to do on the fly with a couple of practice days before their next game.
Eberflus seemed confident the Bears would be able to brace this as they would any other scheduling issue. The NFL hands teams varying degrees of difficulty including back-to-back road games or periods with fewer home games. By September, the Bears staff should have a solid plan in place to keep players properly rested for games.
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