Bears have played NFL’s toughest schedule

If you’re looking for another story bashing the Bears, you’re not going to find it here. Let’s focus on the positive, taking a more Trumpian approach to sports writing.

As bad as the 3-8 Bears have been, there’s this nugget of hope: All three of their victories have come against winning teams.

The Bears have defeated the 9-2 Steelers, 6-5 Ravens and the 8-3 Panthers. That’s right — they have beaten three teams that cumulatively have won almost 70 percent of their games.

How impressive is that!?

Well, consider this: The 10-1 Eagles, the best team in football who laid the wood to the Bears last week with a 31-3 beatdown, have defeated just one winning team — the Panthers. The 9-2 Patriots have beaten just two — the Saints and Falcons.

In fact, only three teams have defeated more winning teams than the Bears. Five of the Steelers’ nine vctories have come against winners; the Vikings and Panthers have four apiece.

After finishing with the third-worst record (3-13) in the league last season, the Bears were supposed to have one of the easier slates in the league, based on the NFL’s scheduling formula. But, we all know how that usually plays out in the league of parity.

The Bears have played BY FAR the toughest schedule in the league. Eight of their 11 games have been against teams with winning records. Only the Packers (7) and Redskins (7) are close.

Bears’ opponents boast a gaudy .633 win percentage. Nice door prize from the NFL for a team that limped out of last season winning at a .187 clip.

So, maybe the Bears aren’t as bad as we think. Maybe they’re really an average team that got stuck playing an above-average schedule. Maybe it’ll all come together this Sunday at Soldier Field against the 1-10 49ers, a team that’s at their level.

Well … maybe.

There is this: The Bears are 0-3 against teams with below-.500 records, losing by an aggregate score of 87-37.