Die-Hard Bears Fan Seth Rollins Predicts Chicago’s 2026 Record Will Be…?

Seth Rollins wrestles for a living, but on Wednesday he moonlighted as Chicago's most optimistic season forecaster. The die-hard Bears fan walked through the 2026 schedule game by game, and by the end he had his team hoisting the top seed in the NFC.

First came the vibe check, and Rollins did not hedge. "I haven't been this excited for a season, a football season, in so long," he said. He knows the danger in that. He brought up Matt Nagy's rookie year, when Chicago made the playoffs behind Mitch Trubisky before a steep drop-off, then explained why he is not worried about a repeat. "I don't think there's a chance in the world that Ben Johnson is going to pull a Matt Nagy. I feel like Caleb Williams is a better quarterback than Mitch Trubisky."

He is also clear-eyed about the mountain ahead. Rollins tabbed the Los Angeles Rams as the odds-on NFC favorite, a team he argued underachieved as the best in football last year and then added "a shutdown cornerback and the greatest pass rusher maybe of all time." Still, he was not backing down. "I got to back my Bears, baby."

Then the show handed him the schedule, and Rollins got to work. Chicago, in his projection, roars out of the gate with four straight wins, including a Monday night statement over the Philadelphia Eagles. "Last year, biggest game in the schedule for the Bears. I was terrified of it. We won, dominated Philly. Doing it again this year." The first blemish comes at Lambeau Field, where he conceded a loss after three straight home games, then rattled off wins over Atlanta and a New England team he expects to take a big step back. "I think we're going to beat the brakes off them."

A road loss at Seattle put him at 6-2, and from there he kept stacking dubs. He talked himself into wins over Tampa Bay without Mike Evans, the Saints, and the Jaguars, while owning up to the games that haunt him. Detroit got him twice, on Thanksgiving and again down the stretch, and both stung. "We just got to beat Detroit," Rollins said. "Lost to Detroit two times last year. It looked ugly." He also gave the edge to Buffalo on a Saturday road trip.

The finish, in his telling, is a coronation. Rollins put the Bears at 13-4, sweeping a Minnesota team he does not believe will get the Kyler Murray experiment right. "It's not Sam Darnold 2.0 in Minnesota," he said. "Bears are going to win the north." That record, he figured, is good enough for the No. 1 seed in the conference. "Super Bowl bound, baby. Iceman from start to finish. I'm feeling it."

The one number that gave even Rollins pause came from the sportsbooks, where the Bears sit at 27-1 to win the Super Bowl, the same odds the U.S. men's national team carries to win the World Cup. "I'm surprised they're that high," he admitted. Not that it changed his forecast one bit.