Around the NFC North: Schedule Tidbits
Get excited for calendar talk.
By Mike Price
I've never been one who obsesses over the schedule in May but, really, what else is there to obsess about right now? You want me to watch baseball? Gross.
Bears
The Bear's have the fourth hardest schedule according to NFL.com. They have negative four net rest days on the season. They play the Packers in weeks 14 and 16. Weirdly, the week 16 game does not have a time yet.
Let's explain the two stats first. The hardest schedules were ranked according to opponent win percentage from 2024 and number of primetime games among other metrics. The net rest days is a cumulative number calculated over the full season. Let's say you play a Thursday night game in week 3 and then a Sunday day game in week 4. You would have more rest days than your week 4 opponent because you played in the Thursday game. So in the Bears' case they have four fewer rest days on the season than their opponents.
The Bears will play three prime time games for sure and could play more depending on how that week 16 games is scheduled. They open against the Lions and Vikings in consecutive weeks and close against the Lions in week 17. They have 15 games in between Lions match-ups and just one in between Packers match-ups.
Lions
The Lions have the hardest schedule in the league this season, despite an incredible +13 net rest days thanks to three Thursday games. They open the season against the Packers and then play them again on Thanksgiving. They also play on Christmas, another Thursday game, against the Vikings.
The Lions always have a great net rest days number and have led the league by a hefty margin in the category over the past several years. It's because they are guaranteed that Thanksgiving Thursday game where they basically always get a + 3 rest days and then typically have a few more similarly plus games.
The reason their schedule is so hard this year is not only do they have to play the number 1 team in every NFC division, but also the Chiefs, the NFC East and the Packers and Vikings. And remember those Bears rest games are fifteen weeks apart. Sheesh.
Vikings
The Vikings schedule is the sixth hardest and they have negative three net rest days. They play the Packers in weeks 12 and 18 and open the season against the Bears. They play the Lions on Christmas day and that week 18 Packers match-up doesn't have a designated time.
They have two (2!) international games. The first in Ireland in week four against the Steelers and then in England the next week against the Browns. Then they have a bye in week 6. So they start the season with two straight prime time games, admittedly against two straight just OK teams, play Joe Burrow and then go to Europe for a couple of weeks. Pretty rough start for a first-year starting QB.
After the bye they have the Eagles, Chargers, Lions and Ravens in four straight weeks, a rest against the Bears and then the Packers. If JJ McCarthy isn't the guy the Vikings could be out of the playoffs by that week 12 Packers matchup.
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Mike Price is a lifelong Packers fan who recently moved from Utah to Stoughton (a Madison suberb). You can follow him on twitter at @themikeprice.
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Comments (3)
Doug_In_Sandpoint
May 23, 2025 at 11:11 am
Ok, I’ll bite…where does the Packers’ strength of schedule fall and is our net days rest positive or negative. I’d figure it out but I was told there would be no math.
TarynsEyes
May 23, 2025 at 11:40 am
The schedule is as hard as one perceives it to be, and how hard the team makes it to become. With every loss, it gets harder, with every win one can become ignorant to what's coming.
The Packers seem to be comfortable making it harder with their yearly slow starts, or in plainer words, ignoring the need to prepare for the coming.
Take it one game at a time is the normal mantra, but the fans seem to seek excuses for the ignorance of the team's efforts to be ready, whether at the season start, or any given week along the way, even though MLF will be criticized for the team not looking prepared a good number of games.
It doesn't matter what a system ranks your schedule, it's how the coaches, players etc. prepare, an exercise that falls short way too often for the talent and expectations hyped yearly.
It isn't a walk-over Division anymore, and being prepared for these games, at least, should make it near impossible to find an excuse that seems so readily available the last couple-few seasons.
Simple, the mere point of talking about the hardness of a schedule, has one already seeking excuses for what hasn't happened, yet.
Leatherhead
May 23, 2025 at 12:35 pm
Let's see how hard the schedule looks after the first four games.