The schedule makes gave the Bears and Packers a curve ball this year.
The NFL schedule is out. It’s an impossible tasks to coordinate 32 teams schedules with certain needs of each teams, certain limitations on stadiums, as well as previously schedule events already schedule at said stadiums like concerts, soccer matches, etc.
But the NFL manages to pull it off every year, and to make it work, there are always a few oddities to make the puzzle fit. For the Chicago Bears, it’s that they play the Green Bay Packers twice in three games, not only that, the second matchup is on a Saturday, which means the Bears will play the Packers twice in less than two weeks.
Question of the Day: Does it bother you that the Bears play the Packers twice in 13 days?
Three of the Bears final five games of the season are divisional games. That’s not a surprise. The league always has teams finish against a division opponent and they do try to sprinkle in as many divisional games in December to potentially make the matchups more compelling. But for the Bears, those three games, two are against the Packers and, as mentioned before, they are less than a fortnight apart.
My answer: Hell yes, it bothers me. Those two Packers games are important to the fan base every year. If the schedule makers had done that against the Vikings, it would be annoying but it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but cramming the Bears and Packers this closely together just means that the rivalry won’t have a chance to breathe and I honestly think it makes the games a little less meaningful.
I mean, let’s be honest, you, a Bears fan, usually gets pretty hyped for the Packers games, right? Even if the Packers are good and the Bears are bad, we all hope the Bears can at least play spoiler and ruin the Packers’ season a little, if not for the players, at least for the fans.
But when the Bears play the Packers in week fourteen, and come back 13 days later to face them again in week 16, are we going to be nearly as hyped for that second game? Personally, I doubt I will be. That’s a game I like to see coming up on the calendar, you kind of gear up for Packer week, and when it arrives, you take it all in. Packer week starting 7 days after Packer week had just concluded just isn’t going to do it for me. There just won’t be a buildup to that game.
So, sure, the NFL schedule is never perfect, there are oddities that make it interesting and in some cases, make it less appealing, but it’s a complicated puzzle that takes a major effort to put together.
But really, NFL? Really? You couldn’t come up with a schedule that didn’t include the Bears and Packers playing both their games 13 days apart? That’s just weak sauce right there.
What do you say, Bears fans? Are you annoyed the Packers games are so close together, or doesn’t it matter (as long as the Bears win)? Sound off below in the article comments section!
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