No More Rust for Khalil Herbert

After he was held to 7 yards in his return from injury, Khalil Herbert looks to get into the open against Detroit's defense.

Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy is convinced the Khalil Herbert who plays against the Detroit Lions will be closer to the one who had played in November than the one who suited up against Buffalo in Saturday's cold.

Herbert had only 7 yards on six carries in his first action since facing the Detroit Lions Nov. 13 at Soldier Field.

"First game back, right? Really good defense," Getsy said. "The flow of the game probably dictated it more than anything else.

"I don't think it was anything that necessarily Khalil did incorrectly or anything like that. It was just a little bit of that and getting him back into the flow of the game. Missing five, or whatever that was, it was really five weeks because you had the bye week in there, too."

Herbert had led all NFL running backs in yards per carry with 5.95 when he suffered a hip injury against the Lions. He had 57 yards on 10 runs in that first Lions game.

After his six runs for 7 yards against the Bills, his average has dipped to 5.7 yards per carry but he still leads all running backs. Dallas back Tony Pollard was second at 5.3 yards per carry prior to Thursday' night's Cowboys game with Tennessee.

Perhaps rust played a role for Herbert.

"It felt real good just being able to get back out there—it was a long five weeks," Herbert said.

To Herbert,  how the running game and the offense finish now is what's important even if it isn't going to have meaning beyond a possible win or two.

"Just finish the right way for leading into next year and, you know, I feel like a lot of guys feel the same way," Herbert said. "Just, you know, putting our best foot forward and trying to come out with some dubs.

"It's definitely important. You always want to finish out the year right. You always want to start the year off strong. So just being able to do that and capitalize off you know playing against two really good teams, especially division teams is big and important to us."

TICKETS TO SEE JUSTIN FIELDS AND THE BEARS AVAILABLE THROUGH SI TICKETS

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven