Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?

Yeah, me neither. But the 2009 NFL schedule was released Tuesday, and the winner of the Easiest Schedule Award goes to ... the Bears! (The Bears opponents were actually already known, but Tuesday's release included dates and times for all NFL games.)

The Bears' 2009 (and 2010, technically) opponents had a combined .414 winning percentage last year. They'll face the NFC West and AFC North, plus the Eagles and Falcons, and of course the rest of the NFC North twice each. It's pretty ridiculous to preview the games at this point, since the NFL Draft hasn't even occurred yet--but what the heck, let's do it anyways.

The Bears open on the road on a Sunday night--sound familiar? That's because the Bears opened in Indy last year on Sunday night, a game they of course won, significantly raising expectations for the 2008 season. This year's first game is in Green Bay, and should certainly start the year off with a bang.

The Bears then open the Soldier Field portion of their schedule against the Super Bowl champion Steelers. Having already known they were going to play the Steelers at some point, I think it's a positive development to learn that it will be their first home game with a crowd jacked up to see Jay Cutler for the first time.

Next, the Bears will embark on what should be the easiest stretch of their schedule: at Seattle (who has to find a new identity after losing Coach Mike Holmgren), vs. Detroit (no analysis necessary), bye week, at Atlanta (to avenge last year's last-second loss), at Cincinnati and home vs. the Browns. The AFC North is like the two Caddyshack movies--half great, half terrible. Playing the terrible half in back-to-back weeks could give the Bears some momentum heading into the final two months of the season.

The Bears then continue the NFC West portion of their schedule with a home game against Kurt Warner's Cardinals and a visit to San Francisco to face former Bear and record holder for Most Times Taking off one's Pants at Inappropriate Times Mike Singletary. The entire NFC West, frankly, is beatable. The only team in that division with a winning record last year was the Cardinals, who were 9-7.

The Bears will then host the Eagles, whom they defeated on a goalline stand last year, followed by a trip to Minnesota, where they will hopefully not allow Adrian Peterson to run for 400 yards.

The home stretch features three out of five games at Soldier Field, starting with the lowly Rams and rival Packers. A trip to cold, cold Baltimore and a Monday night game against the Vikings lead up to the final game of the regular season, a gift from the football gods in the form of a trip to Detroit.

Somewhat surprisingly, the NFL slated the Bears for five prime time games--three Sunday nights (GB, ATL, PHI), a Thursday night game on NFL Network (SF), and the Monday night game vs. the Vikings.

At first glance, this strikes me as a relatively favorable schedule. With that in mind, it's been a good April for the Bears, though of all the good months a football team would like to have, April is not anywhere near the top of the list. Hopefully they can make the month even better with a solid draft (April 25-26).