Bears ready for prime time again in 2009 schedule

The Bears again will receive plenty of prime-time exposure this season.

In the 2009 schedule released Tuesday, the Bears play five nationally televised night games, starting with the season opener, a Sunday night showdown in Green Bay against the Packers on Sept. 13.

The home opener will be the following Sunday at 3:15 p.m. against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Last season the Bears played five prime-time games, three on Sundays, two of which were victories, and one each on Thursday and Monday, both of which were overtime victories.

They have an identical slate this season with a Thursday night game on the NFL Network against the 49ers at San Francisco on Nov. 12 and a home game Monday night against the Minnesota Vikings on Dec. 28.

The other two Sunday night games will be Oct. 18 at Atlanta against the Falcons and Nov. 22 at home against the Philadelphia Eagles.

At least on paper, the Bears seem to have an advantageous schedule, with eight games against teams that had double-digit defeats last season, including home and away dates with NFC North rivals Green Bay (6-10) and Detroit (0-16).

The Bears host the St. Louis Rams (2-14) and the Cleveland Browns (4-12), and they face the Seattle Seahawks (4-12) and the Cincinnati Bengals (4-11-1) on the road.

Five of those games are against teams with new head coaches.

In Detroit, former Titans defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz replaced Rod Marinelli. In Cleveland, fired New York Jets coach Eric Mangini replaced Romeo Crennell; in St. Louis, former New York Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo succeeded Jim Haslett; and in Seattle, Jim Mora Jr. was promoted from assistant head coach/secondary after Mike Holmgren retired.

The Bears also have seven games against playoff teams. They're at home against the Steelers (Week 2), the NFC champion Arizona Cardinals (Week 9) and the Eagles (Week 11), and on the road against the Ravens in Baltimore (Week 14), plus home and away games against the NFC North champion Vikings.

The Bears' 2009 opponents had a combined record of 105-149-2 last season.

Using last year's records as a guideline, the Bears have the NFL's easiest schedule, as their 2009 opponents compiled a 41.4 winning percentage last season. By comparison, the Miami Dolphins, who have the most difficult schedule, face teams that compiled a 59.4 winning percentage.

The Vikings and the Packers have the second and third easiest schedules, facing opponents who had wining percentages of 42.0 and 42.8, respectively.

The dates and times for the preseason schedule also were finalized Tuesday:

Saturday, Aug. 15, at Buffalo Bills, 6 p.m. (Channel 32)

Saturday, Aug. 22, home vs. Giants, 7 p.m. (Channel 32)

Sunday, Aug. 30, at Denver Broncos, 7 p.m. (Channel 5).

Thursday, Sept. 3, home vs. Browns, 7 p.m. (Channel 32)