There are some Bears fans rooting for the Bears to fail this season in the hope that it will lead to Lovie Smith's dismissal as head coach. They dislike him so much that watching their team lose would be acceptable if his firing was the ultimate outcome.

It doesn't look like their wish is going to come true.

Barring another disaster like the Week Four loss to the Giants, the Bears are probably going to start the season 7-1. They face the Seahawks, Redskins and Bills in their next three games. The schedule gets much tougher after that, but all they would have to do — if they take care of the next three opponents — is go 2-6 or 3-5 to have a pretty good chance of making the playoffs. Going 9-7 or 10-6 is often enough to get in.

We'll keep track of how hot Smith's seat is getting on a weekly basis here, but I don't think it's going to get much above lukewarm before late November or early December at the earliest.