Chicago Bears 2026

#26      
FlyNavy
Second place is 1st loser said:
The rest of it is based off of last year's data. There are teams that take steps back, steps forward and then there's always injuries.
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Very good point. Here is what was posted at this time last year (2025 strength of schedule based on 2024 records):
  • 1. New York Giants .574 (166-123)
  • T-2. Chicago Bears .571 (165-124)
  • T-2. Detroit Lions .571 (165-124)
  • 4. Philadelphia Eagles .561 (162-127)
After the season ended, the Bears had the fourth EASIEST schedule with a .458 SOS. Many of their opponents had 5+ more losses (Minnesota, Detroit, Washington) against only the 49ers that improved more than 1-2 wins. SOS will probably drop a little this year as well (NE? Jacksonville?) but I doubt it will be as drastic.
 
#32      
jamarvelous31
See Ya Goodbye GIF by slicedbread
 
#34      
Bucktown
Mr. Tibbs said:
Bears announced they are moving to Hammond
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Such a failure by all parties Illinois, Chicago and the Bears. Certainly a win for Indiana. Final Four or Super Bowl in Hammond?? Seems a stretch especially when Lucas Oil gets them regularly. They may have better luck with concerts though. Soldier Field is a better venue, but promoters will be able play the venues off of each other.

Indiana is providing a lot of money, but it is nearly all financed by ticket taxes.
 
#35      
Ander1345
Bucktown said:
Such a failure by all parties Illinois, Chicago and the Bears. Certainly a win for Indiana. Final Four or Super Bowl in Hammond?? Seems a stretch especially when Lucas Oil gets them regularly. They may have better luck with concerts though. Soldier Field is a better venue, but promoters will be able play the venues off of each other.

Indiana is providing a lot of money, but it is nearly all financed by ticket taxes.
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People in general are quick to get their political jabs in but it is far less on Illinois than it is on the Bears.

There is simply no need for this to be moving this fast the Bears are just forcing it by strong arming the state. They would be welcome at Soldier Field for as long as they want to be and the franchise is *immensely* profitable so it's not like they're losing money.

But if they want to force this along I say let them go. As a big fan of the city of Chicago who enjoys walking the beautiful museum campus and being on Iakefront I can find other things to do on Sundays.
 
#36      
Bucktown
Ander1345 said:
People in general are quick to get their political jabs in but it is far less on Illinois than it is on the Bears.

There is simply no need for this to be moving this fast the Bears are just forcing it by strong arming the state. They would be welcome at Soldier Field for as long as they want to be and the franchise is *immensely* profitable so it's not like they're losing money.

But if they want to force this along I say let them go. As a big fan of the city of Chicago who enjoys walking the beautiful museum campus and being on Iakefront I can find other things to do on Sundays.
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The very best plan for all parties except Indiana is the one that builds a new stadium south of the existing one on the lakefront. There are enough ancillary economic benefits to make the numbers work. The Bears & City proposed a vision for a lakefront stadium with some obvious things they were willing to give on, but Brandon Johnson has been incapable of selling it to the public or the state.
 
#37      
jamarvelous31
Bucktown said:
Such a failure by all parties Illinois, Chicago and the Bears. Certainly a win for Indiana. Final Four or Super Bowl in Hammond?? Seems a stretch especially when Lucas Oil gets them regularly. They may have better luck with concerts though. Soldier Field is a better venue, but promoters will be able play the venues off of each other.

Indiana is providing a lot of money, but it is nearly all financed by ticket taxes.
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One of the biggest complaints I hear about IL/Chicago is about the taxes, this seems like IL and Chicago doing their jobs protecting tax payers? Stadium deals have been proven time and again to be bad deals for everyone but team ownership..

The Bears are asking for a $1.5 billion tax break over 40-years and want to pay 560M in taxes. They employ less folks than your average mall- Soldier Field has about 8-12 full-time employees, and relies on 250-350+ event day workers vs Old Orchard employs an estimated 1,500 part & full time employees.

Chicago will still benefit from the jobs (people will commute to Hammond), tourism (who is staying in Hammond vs Chicago), and they'll even generate more Skyway revenue. They're not going to change the name, so they'll benefit from that too.

It's a bad deal for the city and the state and the Bears' are hoping folks are too emotionally invested in to think about it rationally.
 
#38      
illinistephen
McCaskey's statement in part: "voted to advance our stadium development project in Hammond, Indiana, with the exact site to be selected."
Per ESPN: "The Bears' announcement Friday does not guarantee the team will leave Illinois. Per a league source, while Indiana is "in the lead" to lure the Bears across state lines to build a domed stadium, "Illinois can still get back in the race."
1. They don't have an announced site for this.
2. When they are serious about Hammond they will announce the AH site is for sale and sell it.
 
#39      
Second place is 1st loser
Gary J said:
The Bears are not moving to Indiana. This is a ploy to get more money out of the taxpayers. And if they are not bluffing, I say let them go to Indiana. Good luck with attendance in that ugly town.
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At this point, they aren't bluffing. They will give Illinois every last opportunity to call a special session to get a deal done, but in the absence of that.....Hammond it is. This is too big of a project to just push off until the fall session. It's been pushed off for threw years. When Indiana got involved, miraculously, two iterations of a bill made it to the floor. It took what ...a month? Yet, Chicago politicians got in the way of Arlington Heights success because they believed they were a player. They weren't. They ALL think the Bears are bluffing. They aren't.

The Bears don't want to leave the state. The state doesn't want the Bears to leave. However, Chicago is a state within a state and their agenda doesn't align with anyone else's.

Illinois still has an opportunity to get something done, but they won't do what's required, which starts with everyone getting off their couches during their summer time off and getting legislation pushed through. They want to push it off until fall, fine. Let's see what happens.

The Bears are business morons and that's being diplomatic. They're insanely bad at negotiations and Kevin Warren only made it worse. At some point, even bad negotiators will find a partner for a billion dollar entity to move into this neighborhood. Both sides of the aisle in the Indiana government came up with a bipartisan plan that worked for them. Illinois is incapable of such execution.
 
#43      
Second place is 1st loser
ChiefGritty said:
Prediction: they are
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At this point, it doesn't hurt to bluff. What's the worst that can happen, they finish the move?

The bottom line is that state will not be able to come up with anything viable as long as Chicago is involved.

The State is going to have to call a special session to push anything through and at this point, they need more than a simple majority to pass a viable bill. I can't imagine the Bears getting strung along until the fall, but maybe?

Chicago will not vote for a bill that doesn't include money not cycling through them. They would rather the Bears go to Indiana versus Arlington Heights.
 
#44      
Mr. Tibbs
Second place is 1st loser said:
At this point, it doesn't hurt to bluff. What's the worst that can happen, they finish the move?

The bottom line is that state will not be able to come up with anything viable as long as Chicago is involved.

The State is going to have to call a special session to push anything through and at this point, they need more than a simple majority to pass a viable bill. I can't imagine the Bears getting strung along until the fall, but maybe?

Chicago will not vote for a bill that doesn't include money not cycling through them. They would rather the Bears go to Indiana versus Arlington Heights.
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