Maybe it’s a little early, but even though the season doesn’t kick off for two a half weeks, it’s pretty obvious what the Chicago Bears are going to be.  What’s never obvious in the NFL, however, is how that will translate into wins and losses in the regular season.  Last year, despite an inability to protect the QB, despite a grumpy demeanor by Jay Cutler, and despite some odd coaching decisions along the way, the Bears beat the odds and fell into the NFC Championship.  After the small handful of traditionally elite teams, strength of schedule seems to have a lot more to do with playoff potential than perceived talent by the experts.

Despite last year’s winning record, the Bears’ schedule this year still looks fairly tame.  Then again, so do the Bears.  Without further adieu, let’s take a comically early look at the schedule, accurately predicting each game’s outcome:

9/11 vs. Atlanta: ATL 27, CHI 16

9/18 @ New Orleans: NO 41, CHI 16

9/25 vs. Green Bay: GB 27, CHI 24

10/2 vs. Carolina: CHI 33, CAR 9

10/10 @ Detroit: DET 24, CHI 17

10/16 vs. Minnesota: CHI 23, MIN 14

10/23 @ Tampa Bay (London): CHI 13, TB 3

11/7 @ Philadelphia: PHI 24, CHI 20

11/13 vs. Detroit: CHI 27, DET 6

11/20 vs. San Diego: CHI 20, SD 17

11/27 @ Oakland: CHI 27, OAK 0

12/4 vs. Kansas City: KC 21, CHI 9

12/11 @ Denver: DEN 17, CHI 10

12/18 vs. Seattle: CHI 38, SEA 20

12/25 @ Green Bay: GB 34, CHI 23

1/1 @ Minnesota: CHI 24, MIN 23

Final Record: 8-8.

Unfortunately, 8-8 won’t get it done in the NFC this year, so the Bears will have to take their step back and learn from it.  Of course, my predictions could be all wrong and Roy Williams could suddenly figure out how to catch balls without dropping them, Marion Barber could remain healthy, Matt Forte could sign a deal he wants even though he’s already under contract, Brian Urlacher and the rest of the defense could discover the fountain of youth, the offensive line could jell immediately, and Jay Cutler could become the positive, emotional leader most people didn’t think he could be.  Or… more likely, the Bears will go 8-8.  Sure, they’ll pull an upset or two (my guess is against San Diego), but they’ll probably lose a game or two they shouldn’t (Detroit? Denver?), and in the end, this mediocre team will finish with a mediocre record.

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As if Jay Cutler didn’t have enough to worry about with his own inaccuracies and problems with last year’s offensive line, things only got worse as the Bears couldn’t resign veteran C Olin Kreutz, forcing the franchise to put this already makeshift offensive line at the hands of Chris Spencer, a veteran in his own right.  Spencer is not to be solely blamed for Cutler’s future concussions and, depending on who you ask, may even be a slight upgrade over a Kreutz who would have been playing in his 14th NFL season, but the cohesiveness of a line is a must when it comes to protecting the QB, and a new center will set back that chemistry even more.

Time will tell, but if I were in the Bears front office, I’d be trying a little harder to find a solid backup QB this year to avoid a Collins2.0 situation.