Critics keep bashing Bears' RB room as 2025 season nears

The Bears running backs are facing a prove-it season in 2025.

Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

It's going to be a long summer for the Chicago Bears' running backs.

Sure, Ben Johnson gave the group a vote of confidence last week. But the Bears' failure to add an early-round running back in the 2025 NFL draft has left them vulnerable to criticism and quesions as training camp marches on.

Last year this time, D'Andre Swift appeared to be the answer to Chicago's ho-hum rushing attack. Swift was supposed to be a field-flipping threat who'd be a three-down weapon for then-rookie quarterback Caleb Williams.

Swift responded by ending the 2024 season with the worst yards-per-carry average of his career while failing to reach 1,000 rushing yards.

Meanwhile, Roschon Johnson's concussions and misuse by offensive coordinator Shane Waldron threw any upside he had when he entered the league as a fourth-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft right out the window.

As a result, running back was once again rated as the Chicago Bears' biggest roster weakness one week into 2025 training camp.

Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

"It's a good thing the Bears should have elite run-blocking up front," Bleacher Report's Alex Ballentine wrote. "D'Andre Swift is the kind of back who is going to get what is blocked for him. According to Next Gen Stats, Swift had the worst rushing yards over expected among qualifying ball-carriers. Roschon Johnson averaged 2.7 yards per carry and rookie Kyle Monangai was a seventh-round pick."

There's one key variable working in the Bears' favor right now: new running backs coach Eric Bieniemy.

Widely regarded as the top running backs coach in the NFL, if there's anyone who can turn lemons into lemonade, it's Bieniemy.

Let's not forget seventh-round rookie Kyle Monangai, either. He's a quality running back who slid to the end of the 2025 NFL Draft because he lacked ideal measurables. But that was draft season; measurables are irrelevant between the white lines. Maybe, just maybe, Monangai will be 'the guy' the Bears' running game needs in 2025.

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