The Bears are in a good position to enter the draft without even trying.

Losing out on being better in the weird world of tanking, the Bears may not have the worst record right now, but they are located in a catbird’s seat with one exception.

The calendar determines everything. The Bears actually have a chance to become the top pick in the draft since they’re only 2 1/2 games in now, but it would be tough for them even with the schedule they have coming up.

The Bears have finished their “easy” games and it has long been known how difficult their remaining opponents are.

Numerically speaking, though, it’s daunting, but not daunting enough, to think they can emerge with the top pick, and here’s why.

With eight games remaining, the Bears’ remaining opponents have a winning percentage of .708. Seattle is the only opponent with a losing record and the Seahawks have the same record as the Bears at 4-5. This is by far the toughest remaining schedule in the NFL. No one else has a schedule this severe in terms of severity.

The next toughest remaining schedule – or easiest for tanking – belongs to Cleveland at .592, then New England at .582.

While all of this is well known, what hasn’t been discussed much is how Matt Eberflus’ team played the toughest schedule in the league as a whole.

Just before the season started, the Bears were facing what was widely considered the fourth-easiest schedule based on their opponents’ winning percentage compared to last year.

As is usually the case, things change a bit in the NFL from year to year. In the real world, you don’t face last year’s opponents. You play against this year’s teams.

What actually happened is the Bears (4-5) are playing the toughest schedule in the entire NFL this season, based on this year’s records. And this will be a key factor in the proposed order.

The Bears’ opponents for the 17-game schedule this season have a winning percentage of .550. The 49ers face the next toughest schedule with opponents at .541.

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What does all this mean beyond giving Bears fans a chance to cry themselves to sleep over how their 2024 season fell off a cliff thanks to a Hail Mary pass?

This is important for drafting and tanking.

The Bears may seem well-positioned to come away with a top draft pick, but that’s only as long as they keep their feet clean, so to speak. They cannot be linked to anyone.

Right now, they’re tied for 15th worst records, but the upcoming schedule indicates they’ll take the elevator from the bottom of the rankings, or the elevator to the penthouse in tanking Bizarro World.

Any team the Bears finish tied with will hold the tiebreaker advantage in draft order. This may not seem accurate, but here’s how it works.

For example, if they tied the Patriots, the Patriots would be drafted before them.

That might seem unfair, especially after the way the Patriots embarrassed them on Sunday, but the logic is that if you had the same record against easier competition, you need more help.

Currently, they are tied for 15th overall in the draft with Seattle and the Rams. If the season ended today, as they like to say, the Bears’ draft is last among these three teams because they had the busiest schedule.

The other two teams deserve to be ahead of them because they are considered weaker because they have the same record, but against weaker teams. It doesn’t matter that the Bears beat the Rams, just like it doesn’t matter if they had lost to the Rams. It all depends on how strong the schedule really is.

The bottom line is that the Bears can’t win after losing unless they do a really good job. As they say in the league, “…on any given Sunday” you could end up winning, or in this case, losing.

So there’s a lot of work to be done in this Bizarro World of the NFL Draft. It’s time to tank.

* Disclaimer: Tanking is just a tongue-in-cheek expression intended, in this case, to show the benefits of losing in the draft and is not meant to imply that teams are actually trying to lose on purpose (wink wink).

Strength of the 2024 calendar

(The 17 opponents)

1. Bear 0.550

2. 49ers .441

4. Packers .532

4. Cardinals .532

Toughest remaining schedule

1. Bear 0.708

2. Browns .592

3. Patriots .582

4. Panthers .582

5.49ers .581

Twitter: BearsOnSI