The NFL will announce the 2015 schedule at some point this week, setting travel calendars for many of the sport’s fans this fall and winter. Personally, I love the announcement as much as any day in the off-season. It’s like building a brilliant travel itinerary. Sure, the fun is actually executing that itinerary but creating the itinerary itself makes the trip real. Seeing the Bears 16 games laid out makes the 2015 season suddenly real.

Here are my hopes…

HOPE #1 – Return the Bears to Sunday at Noon

I know the Bears are a huge television draw and the NFL has more prime time slots than Law & Order in the 90s. But two years straight the Bears have gone almost a month late in the season without playing on Sunday afternoon.

When the Bears don’t play on Sundays, Sundays are worthless to me. Sure you get the chance to watch a few other clubs closely but I do that on Mondays and Tuesdays anyway. Sundays are about routine. Sundays are about ritual. Some folks like to go to church. I like to go to Josie Woods and pray the Bears don’t embarrass themselves.

HOPE #2 – Send the Bears to San Diego in December

You think a lot of Bears fans show up to Nashville and Dallas and Charlotte? Try scheduling the Bears in paradise once the winter has rolled into Chicago. I’ll have my hotel room booked an hour after the schedule is released.

Side note: the Chargers should have petitioned the NFL for this. They already are amongst the league’s worst fans and with word leaking the team has its eyes on LA, it isn’t going to get better any time soon.

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Here are the eight road opponents for the 2014 Chicago Bears: Detroit, Green Bay, Minnesota, Carolina, Atlanta, San Francisco, New York Jets, New England.

Here are some scenarios Bears fans should hope for/dread when it comes to the scheduling of this games. (The NFL schedule is rumored to be released tomorrow but may be delayed another week.) I am not writing a similar column about the home schedule because I’m a firm believer that championship contenders should go 6-2 (at worst) at home regardless of who comes into their building and when.

• Start with a travel note. I’m hoping the NFL sends the Bears to Charlotte on Sunday October 12th as the NASCAR boys are racing in town the previous night. It would create an amazing sports weekend in an underrated city.
• With the Bears defense going through a re-definition of sorts, Bears fans would most likely prefer not see the team in Detroit, GB, Atlanta or New England over the first month of the season.
• Here’s a schedule nightmare: Bears opening Sunday night at San Francisco. New stadium, liquored up fans, physical defense. Hardest possible way to open year.

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