Fox Sports 1’s Nick Wright is all about the Chicago Bears in 2020. The host of First Things First has the Bears going 12-4 and winding up with the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC. Wright thinks the Bears will remain the last unbeaten team in the NFL this coming season, citing a healthier squad than last year and a favorable schedule as a few reasons why.
Wright appeared on 670 The Score’s McNeil & Parkins Show Wednesday to discuss his bold prediction in more detail. “A lot of this is also schedule related,” Wright said. “Their route to 12-4, to me, starts with the Chicago Bears being America’s last undefeated team. You look at the first six weeks of the season, find me the loss.” The Bears face the Lions, Giants, Falcons, Colts, Buccaneers and Panthers in their first six games, and Wright sees them going 6-0 in their opening stretch. He also sees their season ending much differently than many expect it to.
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Wright Thinks Week 17 Matchup Will Decide Division
The Bears host their longtime rivals, the Green Bay Packers, Week 17. Wright also has the Packers going 12-4, and he thinks the winner of the season finale will also take the North. “I think [it] will be the game that decides the division … Soldier Field, Green Bay at Chicago. Listen, I understand. Aaron Rodgers has been an absolute nightmare for you guys,” Wright acknowledged, but he also discussed how better quarterback play can life an entire locker room instantly. He thinks that will happen in Chicago.
“There are certain teams that the mojo, if you will, gets sapped from them, because they’re at practice every day, they’re in the meetings every day, and they know they’ve got a bum at quarterback. I don’t think Nick Foles is great, but Nick Foles is a real NFL starting quarterback, and I think that alone makes the team better.”
Wright said he thinks the Bears will pull it out Week 17, and he also called out a division that didn’t do much improving this offseason.
Are Bears Most Improved Team in NFC North?
On paper, the Bears are an improved team. They added depth at multiple key positions, including tight end, quarterback and defensive line. If Robert Quinn stays healthy, he could be a major difference maker in 2020. Wright pointed out that while the Bears got better, their competition in the North didn’t exactly get any scarier.
“Who in the NFC North got better? I would argue as a division, you guys are the only team that got better. Detroit, to me, is an irrelevant team. Green Bay spent their first-round pick on a player they hope doesn’t play, their second-round pick on a running back that wasn’t on Pro Football Focus’ top 250, and Minnesota traded away one of their best offensive players and lost some defensive guys in free agency. So I don’t look at that division — even though it has three teams any and all of whom in theory could make the conference championship game — I don’t look at the Vikings and the Packers as teams that got better,” Wright said.
“I think the Packers will be fine. I think the Packers benefit from some of the same schedule luck, if you will, that [the Bears] do,” Wright said, noting that had the NFC North instead faced teams in, say the NFC West, he would feel differently about the outcome for both the Bears and the Packers.
If the Bears manage to top Green Bay for the division, it would be an outcome few expected. Chicago is just 3-17 in their last 20 games against the Packers, and they haven’t swept the season series since 2007.
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Bears Predicted to Be NFL’s Last Unbeaten Team, Have Wild Finish vs Packers