The Sun-Times’ Bears experts — Patrick Finley, Jason Lieser and Mark Potash — analyze the team’s 2021 schedule:
What will the Bears record be, and why?
FINLEY: 8-9. Quarterback Andy Dalton will provide what proves to be a false positive by playing well in the first five weeks. Four of those first five opponents — the Bengals, Browns, Raiders and Lions — finished in the bottom quarter of the NFL in defensive DVOA last year. Dalton’s hot start will yield — you guessed it — another six-game losing streak in the middle of the season.