Johnson and Bears looking to improve rushing attack during bye week for 2nd straight year

CHICAGO (AP) — Ben Johnson and the Chicago Bears are looking to improve their sputtering ground game during their bye week.

Just like Johnson’s first season in charge.

Chicago’s rushing attack has slowed significantly since a fast start, and its declining efficiency is one of the team’s biggest concerns going into the last part of its schedule. The Bears rushed for a season-low 72 yards during Sunday’s 27-24 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“I think over the course of nine games, there’s only been three of those nine where we’re averaging over 4 yards a carry. Which, simply in our terms, it’s just not good enough right now,” Johnson said. “And those guys know that, particularly as the weather continues to turn into Bear weather, we’re going to need to lean on that run game more and it’s gonna need to come through for us.”

Led by D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai, Chicago averaged 4.9 yards per carry while rushing for 785 yards in its first four games. But Monangai got hurt in Week 4 against the New York Jets and Chicago totaled 493 yards rushing in the next last five games, averaging 3.4 yards per attempt.

The Bears carried a four-game winning streak and a 7-2 record into their bye week, but the team is hoping to return to the rushing results it had at the beginning of the season.

“It always comes down to us making the (running) backs’ read clear and concise so they’re not second-guessing things,” offensive lineman Jonah Jackson said. “We’re excited for the challenge. We got some good defenses (ahead) that know how to attack us, and we’ll figure out ways to get around it.”

Johnson, who was hired in January 2025, faced a similar situation last season. The Bears averaged 2.7 yards per carry while rushing for just 69 yards in their final game before their Week 5 bye last year. They returned from the break and averaged 157.5 yards rushing and 5.2 yards per attempt in their last 13 games.

The improved rushing attack played a major role in the Bears going 11-6 and winning the NFC North for the first time since 2018.

“Schematically I think we’re a little bit different in terms of where we were this year compared to last year,” Johnson said. “You know, there was some things coming out of last year’s bye week that we were able to lean into, and I’m hoping we’re going to be able to find some nuggets like that of just areas that we really can make it more consistent.”

The return of Monangai, a seventh-round draft pick who rushed for 783 yards and five TDs during his rookie season, could provide a major lift. The 24-year-old has been sidelined by thumb and toe injuries.

Swift, 27, has 576 yards and a career-high 10 TDs on 155 attempts. But Johnson has talked about monitoring his usage over the course of the season, and he had just 12 carries against the Bucs.

It looked as if Roschon Johnson might take on a more prominent role after Monangai got hurt. Johnson had 13 carries for 51 yards and a touchdown in Chicago’s 31-23 win at Atlanta on Oct. 18. But he had no rushing attempts against Tampa Bay.

“I gotta look at is it the fact that we’re not getting as many explosives in the run game right now? Is that why the average is so low?” Ben Johnson said. “Or is it, we’re just not moving the line of scrimmage? What are those factors? And so being able to have nine games of sample size at this point is going to be really good for us to look into.”

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