Bear Digest

Bears still battling same major weakness entering 2025 NFL season

ESPN named an obvious choice as the Bears' biggest weakness entering the 2025 NFL season.
Bryan Perez|
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The Chicago Bears' biggest strength entering the 2025 was declared by ESPN in their recent breakdown of every team's roster, and it was a breath of fresh air. But, with the good also comes the bad. But according to ESPN, even the Bears' weakest position group isn't all that terrible.

"The Chicago roster is in pretty darn good shape, so this is more about that and less about what is a passable running back situation," ESPN's Mike Clay wrote. "D'Andre Swift was busy in his first season in Chicago, finishing top 10 in snaps, carries and routes, though he was limited to six touchdowns and averaged a career-low 3.79 yards per carry. Roschon Johnson (3.7 yards per carry on 136 carries, 5.0 yards per target on 63 targets) is the primary backup and could be pushed by seventh-round flier Kyle Monangai."

Swift has been a target of offseason criticism since the final whistle on 2024 blew. Much of the criticism thrown his way has been fair, but there remains a possibility that Swift's struggles last season were more about the overall offensive dysfunction than his ability to be a feature back.

Swift ended last season with 253 carries for 959 yards and six touchdowns. He had a stretch of very productive games from Weeks 4 through 7, when he totaled 72 carries for 386 yards. He was averaging nearly 5.4 yards per carry and looked like he was on pace to make Ryan Poles' decision to pay him a three-year, $24 million contract in free agency a stroke of brilliance.

The wheels fell off of Swift's 2024 campaign after that stretch, as he only topped 70 rushing yards two more times between Weeks 8 and 17. He failed to reach four yards per carry in seven of the final 10 games.

Not great.

But there's no denying that Swift is, at worst, an average NFL starter. At best, he'll offer Ben Johnson a do-it-all skill set with the ability to flip the field on one touch.

The good news for D'Andre Swift is that the Bears didn't add any outside competition for his job aside from seventh-round pick Kyle Monangai. It suggests Swift will get more than his fair share of chances to prove he does deserve the majority of running back touches.

It's what he does with them that will ultimately matter most.

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Bryan Perez
BRYAN PEREZ

Bryan Perez founded and operated Bears Talk, a Chicago sports blog. Prior to that, he covered the Bears for USA Today’s Bears Wire and NBC Sports Chicago. In addition to his Chicago Bears coverage, Perez is a respected member of NFL Draft media and was a past winner of The Huddle's Mock Draft competition. Bryan's past life includes time as a Northeast scout for the CFL's Ottawa Redblacks.

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