How Bears Sort Out Backfield

The Bears running back situation couldn't be more competitive as they draw closer to starting work on the field in organized team activities in a week.

It's almost as though Khalil Herbert's career so far has been one where he never gets the full respect he deserves. He just led all running backs in yards per carry among those who had enough attempts to qualify for the rushing title yet when David Montgomery left in free agency Herbert did not get an unconditional promotion to No. 1.

Instead, he got competition with two backs added in D'Onta Foreman and Roschon Johnson. Actually, it's three more but Travis Homer is more of a third-down type.

Herbert should be assumed the starter from the outset of practices but with Foreman and Johnson available there is both depth and heavy competition. Foreman arrived saying he didn't come to Chicago to be a backup. Johnson dutifully accepted his situation as someone with a lot to learn, but he's always been in a competitive situation and learned to live with backing up Bijan Robinson at Texas.

How this will all work out was probably best described last year by Matt Eberflus when Herbert's ability as a big-play threat became apparent and Montgomery was coming back from a week away due to injury.

"Yeah, we're just going to go with the hot hand," Eberflus said then. "Who's ever hot right there we're going to stay with him and go from there."

They didn't really do it this way but tried to get Herbert more carries than earlier. Then he suffered an injury himself and was out four games.

Even so, from that point on, Montgomery wound up with 166 carries for 642 yards and averaged 3.87 yards a carry. Herbert got just 77 more runs for 414 yards and 5.38 yards a carry from. This was after Eberflus said they were going to the hot hand.

It didn't matter what Herbert did, even if he'd stayed healthy the rest of the year he wasn't making up an 89-carry difference between himself and Montgomery with four weeks worth of carries at the rate they let him carry the ball all year.

There's a reason Montgomery played ahead of him and it probably was best described by another comment Eberflus made.

This also is likely to be a determing factor in who is going to eventually win out with more carries this year from among the top three backs. It's pass-blocking for Justin Fields. Montgomery was better at it.

"It's a big role, because with Justin you can be pass-blocking and then soon you turn into a run blocker," Eberflus said, referring to Fields' scrambling ability. "So, you want to fight even more to stay on your block because that can be a 60-yard play just waiting to happen. So it's really important with him."

Overall blocking will be important. And while Herbert wasn't necessarily bad at it, he wasn't as effective as Montgomery. Foreman has said he can do it but it seems he hasn't really had an opportunity to explore this much throughout an injury-marred career.

Johnson's running style was described both by himself and the Bears as physical last week. It's why he doesn't like these offseason practices. No contact doesn't let him show off his physicality. He thinks of himself as an all-around back, but until backs are showing they can pick up blitzes nothing can be taken for granted. If it is, you can wind up with an injured quarterback.

The Bears had a talk with Herbert when they brought in Johnson.

"We're going to always over communicate," running backs coach David Walker explained. "A player shouldn't wonder, 'What are they doing?' They should know exactly what we're doing because we've talked through it, or after we've made the decisions we've talked about why we made those decisions."

For now, expect all the players will get the same number of reps at practices but that's how OTAs and minicamp always works. It might even work that way to some extent in training camp.

After it becomes apparent who can keep Fields best protected, watch for that player to emerge as the one with the most plays.

All three have been effective backs in their careers at times. The deciding factor for most playing time won't be a hot hand with the ball. They didn't stick to that plan last year.

Anticipate it will be who has the hot hand blocking for Fields.

BearDigest@BearsOnMaven