One thing that can sometimes be understated is how taxing travel can be on NFL teams during a season. Even with first class accommodations the human body struggles to adjust to constantly changing its internal clock goes from east coast to west coast and back again. So it stands to reason that the less a team has to travel, the greater their odds of success right? At least that should be the hope with the Chicago Bears 2017 schedule.
For the second-straight season the team is going to have one of the lightest travel plans in the league. According to Dan Hanzus of NFL.com only four teams will log fewer miles on their road trips than them. Meanwhile the poor L.A. Rams will be conducting their personal world tour, once again ranking first on the list, though its almost 5,000 miles less than last year. So that’s something.
- 1. Los Angeles Rams – 32,600
- 2. Oakland Raiders – 30,899
- 3. Arizona Cardinals – 30,035
- 4. Miami Dolphins – 27,520
- 5. Los Angeles Chargers – 26,134
- 6. Jacksonville Jaguars – 24,522
- 7. Seattle Seahawks – 24,121
- 8. San Francisco 49ers – 24,092
- 9. New York Giants – 21,833
- 10. New Orleans Saints – 20,968
- 11. Washington Redskins – 20,762
- 12. Philadelphia Eagles – 20,227
- 13. Denver Broncos – 18,842
- 14. Houston Texans – 18,546
- 15. Dallas Cowboys – 18,084
- 16. Baltimore Ravens – 18,055
- 17. New England Patriots – 17,830
- 18. New York Jets – 16,483
- 19. Cleveland Browns – 16,386
- 20. Kansas City Chiefs – 14,671
- 21. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 13,683
- 22. Buffalo Bills – 13,272
- 23. Tennessee Titans – 13,048
- 24. Atlanta Falcons – 11,687
- 25. Indianapolis Colts – 11,236
- 26. Minnesota Vikings – 10,460
- 27. Carolina Panthers – 9,808
- 28. Chicago Bears – 8,318
- 29. Detroit Lions – 8,218
- 30. Green Bay Packers – 8,074
- 31. Cincinnati Bengals – 7,662
- 32. Pittsburgh Steelers – 6,694
Does lighter travel lead to greater success?
Of course the more studious readers to state that the Bears were terrible last year despite an easy travel schedule. This is true. However, one could easily counter that was mitigated by a near-NFL record number of injuries. This includes losing their top two quarterbacks of the season. Even limited travelling won’t save a team at that point.
The question becomes does flying and driving less lead to success? Well here’s an interesting nugget. In 2016 of the top 12 teams who traveled the most distance, four of them managed to make the playoffs and one reached a conference championship. Of the top 12 teams who traveled the least distance? Six made the playoffs and two were in the conference championship.
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The furthest the Bears have to travel this year will be their rematch with the Buccaneers down in Tampa at 1,170 miles each way. Aside from that it’s a fairly short plane ride everywhere else. Here’s hoping the favorable odds go their way.
