The Chicago Bears know what the road back to the playoffs looks like after the NFL released its 2026 schedule last week.

It won’t be easy. The Bears will have a first-place schedule after winning the NFC North. They’ll also have the hardest schedule in the league based on winning percentages from last season.

Last year’s success made the Bears a top national darling as well. Chicago will play in seven standalone games next season after Bears head coach Ben Johnson and quarterback Caleb Williams took the NFL by storm last season in their first year together.

Chicago is focused on building on last season’s success, which led to a trip to the NFC Divisional Round. The Bears won’t catch teams off guard after completing seven comeback wins last year. They’ll also try to reach the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2006.

To do that, however, the Bears will need to get off to a good start.

Good start or bust?

Let’s get this out of the way first: There aren’t many “easy” games for the Bears, as expected. Four of the teams Chicago will play have made the playoffs in each of the past three seasons. The team will also play both of last year’s Super Bowl participants, the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots.

But the Bears have a chance to get off to a good start to the season. They might have to if they want to get back to the playoffs.

Chicago will open the season with games against the Carolina Panthers, Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Jets, Green Bay Packers and Atlanta Falcons. Three of those teams – the Panthers, Eagles and Packers – qualified for the playoffs last year.

Opening at Carolina will be an interesting matchup. Some fans might want to look past the Panthers because of their 8-9 record last season. But they almost pulled off an upset of the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Wild Card. The opener will feature Williams and Panthers quarterback Bryce Young, both former No. 1 overall picks, in what would be a good test to start the season.

Three of their next five games are against teams that will have some sort of uncertainty early.

The Vikings will likely have a competition for their starting quarterback at training camp between Kyler Murray and J.J McCarthy, leaving the opportunity for a work-in-progress situation in Week 2. Although that’s not a certainty. It didn’t stop the Vikings from beating the Bears in the season-opener last year in McCarthy’s first start.

The Jets and Falcons will also discover who they are early in the year. New York is coming off a 3-14 season, while Atlanta is under new leadership, including former Bears assistant general manager Ian Cunningham.

Those are three games the Bears will likely be favored in, and they might be games they need to win. Chicago beat both the Eagles and Packers last season. But in a schedule where there won’t be too many “easy” games, the Bears will want to stack up wins early, or it could be harder to get back to the postseason.

It might be an easier start because of how the schedule played out. Chicago will play three of its first four games at Soldier Field and four of its first six at home.

Back-to-back playoff trips?

Johnson had 11 wins as the magic number the Bears had to reach last season to qualify for the playoffs. The Bears hit that number and earned the No. 2 seed in the NFC.

They might have to replicate that number once again. Five of the seven NFC playoff teams last year had at least 11 wins. The Packers earned the No. 7 seed with a 9-7-1 record while the Panthers snuck in since they won the NFC South. Minnesota and Detroit just missed the playoffs with nine wins.

So, how doable is getting to 11?

The Panthers, Saints, Falcons, Buccaneers, Dolphins and Jets all finished with sub-.500 records. Carolina, Atlanta and Tampa Bay each ended up at 8-9 while the rest fell well below the mark. Chicago should be favored in all six matchups, and winning most, if not all, of them will set a good base to 11.

Then there’s the higher-end competition. Seattle, Jacksonville, New England and Buffalo all finished with more wins than Chicago and Philadelphia ended the year with the same record as the Bears. Each of these teams might not be the same as last year, but none are expected to take a major drop either. Winning two or three here would be considered a win.

But unlike last year, the NFC North could very likely determine whether the Bears can get back to the playoffs. Chicago won the North last year despite going 2-4 in the division. With a tougher out-of-division schedule, winning in the North will be essential.

It’s a tough task. Every team in the North is expected to compete for the playoffs. But the Bears are expected to improve. If they can split or have a winning record in the North, the Bears will have a chance at 11 wins and a return to the playoffs for the first time in consecutive seasons since 2006.