How many games will the Bears win in the 2024 season?

The WCG crew shares some thoughts on Chicago’s 2024 schedule in this multipart roundtable.

Since the NFL went to three wildcard teams per conference in 2020, there has never been a 10 win team that failed to make the postseason in the NFC and it’s only happened once in the AFC.

We’ve been running through a 2024 Chicago Bears schedule roundtable series, and we’re capping it off with our way too early season predictions.

For now, we all have the Bears finishing with a winning record, which puts them in the playoff hunt, and here’s what we had to say…

9-8

Sam Householder: Look, I want to buy all the hype. I want to say “playoffs or bust.” But I’m just not there. Maybe it’s just my cynical nature of watching this team fall below expectations at every turn for nearly two decades. There will be rookie moments; there will be growing pains. I’m still not sold that Matt Eberflus is a great in-game head coach. But it’s an easy schedule, and there are a lot of winnable games. I’ll say 9-8.

Josh Sunderbruch: This is a talented team, and I think they have it in them to do better, but it’s also a team that will still be finding its identity.

Jack R Salo: Unfortunately, the schedule is pretty loaded in the back half. It’s going to make it very frustrating when they finish the season 3-5 after a 6-3 start. I just don’t feel confident yet that they’ll stack wins in those last 8 games when they’ve got the Packers twice, the Lions twice, the 49ers and the Seahawks. As long as Caleb proves to be the guy, they beat the Packers at least once, and the defense develops a superstar (looking at you, Gervon Dexter), they’ll be fine building this thing into a contender.

10-7

Jeff Berckes: The Bears have an over/under win total betting line of 8.5 or 9 right now, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it move up to 9.5. There’s legit excitement in this squad, and for good reason. Of course there will be rookie moments from Caleb Williams, but I like this roster overall and think a 10-7 season is not only possible but should be the expectation.

Aaron Leming: I’ve gone on record (before they officially traded Justin Fields) saying that this should be a playoff team. The NFC is relatively weak, and there’s no reason the Bears can’t finish as one of the seven best teams in the NFC. Sixth best if you’re assuming the NFC South is going to be a dumpster fire again and finish with a worse record than all Wild Card teams. This is an improved roster with a clear direction. I don’t have any Super Bowl aspirations, but I do think they need to show serious progress. Chicago’s schedule is the third-easiest based on last year’s records. That’s not always a true tell of how a season will go, but they’re facing a last-place schedule, and not many of those teams improved enough to be considered good teams. It’s time, even with a rookie quarterback.

Erik Duerrwaechter: 10-7 and a potential playoff appearance. This squad was 15 total minutes away between 3 games — Denver, Detroit, and Cleveland — last season from clinching a wildcard spot, if not the NFC North. There are definite improvements on this roster and it’s time to see if Matt Eberflus really is the right coach for the job.

Jacob Infante: 10-7. With the additions the Bears made this offseason, an improvement in record seems incredibly likely. Their out-of-division schedule seems pretty easy, and they’re good enough to where their difficult division matchups should be competitive. This accounts for the occasional rookie QB mistake and the Bears losing a game or two they shouldn’t, as well as winning a game or two many don’t expect them to. Ten wins and a Wild Card appearance seems like a reasonable expectation for 2024.

Jacob went into more detail with his record prediction here.

Ryan Droste: Right now, I have the team finishing at 10-7 and earning a Wild Card spot. That’s a three-game improvement from last year, and given the offseason additions and improvement shown by the defense in the second half of the season last year, it seems like a realistic scenario. They’re playing a schedule that lines up well for them early, and if they turn in enough wins during that early stretch, this team should be playing with a lot of confidence by the time they get to the more difficult stretch of the schedule. I think this team is 6-3 (or maybe even 7-2) heading into the first matchup with Green Bay on November 17th. Objectively speaking, when you look at those first nine games, they should beat Tennessee, Carolina, Washington, Arizona, and New England. That’s five wins right there. That leaves Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles (Rams), and Jacksonville. If they split those four games, they’re at 7-2, and if they go 1-3 against those four teams, they’re still sitting at 6-3 heading into the final eight games when things start to get tough.

Lester A. Wiltfong Jr.: Unless something goes horribly wrong, ten wins seems extremely likely. There are only a couple of games on the slate where the Bears winning would actually surprise me; the others are all winnable — on paper, at least, and as we analyze the teams in May. My playoff expectations are based on my belief in Caleb Williams being pretty damn good as a rookie in their new-look offense, but more importantly, on head coach Matt Eberflus growing in his role managing late-game situations.

Now it’s your turn. How many games will the Bears win in 2024?