Bear Digest

Where Bears offense needs to go next after big double-100 day

Getting two 100-yard rushers is a rarity and an indication of line dominance but the next opponent will require something physical and more refined.
Gene Chamberlain|
Kyle Monangai breaks through the Eagles' run defense for a 4-yard touchdown in Friday's Bears win.
Kyle Monangai breaks through the Eagles' run defense for a 4-yard touchdown in Friday's Bears win. | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Bears running back D'Andre Swift had to shake his head in admiration for what the Bears offensive line did.  

Caleb Williams has said as much in the past for a different reason—the pass blocking.

The offensive line is starting to peak exactly when it needed to do it, and it's only going to make the Bears that much more of a force to contend with when they get to the playoffs. 

Swift gaining 125 yards and Kyle Monangai 130 in the 281-yard rushing effort  Sunday made the Bears No. 1 in rushing at 153.8 yards a game.

“To do something like that, that's amazing," Swift told reporters after the game. “Hats off to the O-line. I can't say that enough. The job that we're doing up front, and with the receivers blocking downfield, it makes our jobs so much easier.”

The Bears had come close to the 100-100 when Justin Fields was quarterback in 2023. They came within 3 yards as Fields had 97 and Khalil Herbert 112 against Arizona in December at Soldier Field.

Friday was the first time the Bears had a double-100 since Walter Payton had 107  and Matt Suhey 102 against the Lions on Nov. 10, 1985.  The same two did it on Nov. 20, 1983 against Tampa Bay, when Suhey outrushed Payton 112 yards to 106.

Payton and Roland Harper did it Nov. 26, 1978 against the Buccaneers in a 14-3 win, as Harper had 144 yards on 25 carries and Payton 105 on 27 carries.

The Bears were NFL rushing leaders in 2022 when Matt Eberflus was coach, Luke Getsy offensive coordinator, and they had a three-headed rushing monster in David Montgomery, Herbert and Fields. But it was easy to come up with a lot of rushing yards when the QB's scrambling yardage got tacked onto it but that came at the expense of the passing game.

Leading now shows Ben Johnson's offense is ahead of the pace he had in Detroit when it comes to building the ground game and supporting offensive line.

When they built that offense. Detroit jumped from 19th in rushing before he was coordinator to 11th in his first year, but never was higher than fifth at the end of 2024 and 2023. The thing with Detroit was how it also balanced it out by finishing eighth in passing his first year, then second in the next two years.

The Bears have to bring up the other side of it, as they've dipped to 15th in passing. No doubt they'll be forced to try to improve the balance by the time they face Green Bay next week because they can expect the Packers to load up the box with eight players to stop it.

Williams sees the double-100 as a sign the offensive game plans are working, and thinks their passing efforts against Dallas, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh prove it.

"I know it provides a lot of confidence in the O-line and running backs, especially that they can put the game on their back," Williams said. "They can do everything that we need to win for us and when it comes time for us to pass, whatever the case may be, we can do it.

"We did that today, but when it came down to it, we put the ball in the running backs’ hands and they were an electric force.”

With Green Bay ranked eighth against the run, they may very well need to balance out the attack. The Eagles were only 18th against the run going into that win.

Then again, the Packers are seventh against the pass. Williams and the entire offense will need to step up whatever way you look at it.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.