Ben Johnson confirms Bears dodged a bullet with Kyle Monangai’s injury, which will allow his offense to remain a dominating force
The Chicago Bears got good news on the injury front coming out of Sunday’s win and seemed to have dodged a bullet with RB Kyle Monangai’s thumb injury.
The Chicago Bears picked up another big win on Sunday against the New York Jets, fueled by a strong performance on the ground by second-year running back Kyle Monangai who totaled 146 yards and two touchdowns while averaging nearly 5.0 yards a carry.
There was some concern after the game, though, when head coach Ben Johnson told reporters after the game that Monangai had to come to the sideline on that final drive due to a thumb injury. Monangai didn’t seem too bothered when he spoke with reporters soon after and the results on Monday painted a clearer picture for the Bears.
“We think he is going to be ok, so we’ll see what it looks like as we go through the week here, but more of a day-to-day type deal,” Johnson told reporters on Monday.
Johnson also added that quarterback Caleb Williams is not expected to practice this week, however, as he continues working his way back from a hamstring injury. It’s still considered a week-to-week injury for Williams and the Bears already announced that they plan to move forward with Tyson Bagent as the starter in Week 5.
Bears don’t have to worry about the offense missing a beat after the Kyle Monangai update
Even without Caleb Williams, Chicago’s offense has been rolling over the last two games. In a perfect world, it’d be nice to have Williams back sooner than later, but the way the Bears are playing offensively right now has given Williams more time to fully heal before rushing back into action.
A big reason why has been this run game. The Bears lead the NFL with 196.3 rushing yards per game this season, over 20 yards more than the next closest team, while also leading the league with 429.0 total yards per game. Sunday’s game was a well balanced attack with Bagent at the helm but the run game flat out dominated against the Jets defense.
Monangai handled a bulk of the work, carrying the ball a career-high 30 times, and was running the ball with some authority all day long without any signs of being slowed down.
“He ran hard, yeah, he ran really hard,” Johnson said on Sunday. “He found some creases and turned on the gas. I thought I saw one really, really good stiff arm there as well. When you see a guy running like that, you want to feed him as the play-caller. And I do think it elevates all of those guys out there and gives them a spark as well, the guys blocking for him. And it was good to see, we needed that. It just so happened that we gave him the ball 30 times, apparently. So I didn’t even know until I got in my office at the end. But he ran super, super hard.”
The reason Monangai’s total reached that high was partially due to the fumble D’Andre Swift had in the third quarter. Swift never saw the field again after that play, despite having 15 carries for 58 yards on the day. When asked about Swift’s status moving forward, Johnson said “We all have to have short memories.”
“I’ve got to see it,” Swift said, via the Chicago Tribune. “I think it was just me. I don’t think he got a hand on it. … Trying to make plays and I’ve got to keep it close to my body. Just got to be more aware of where the ball is at all times.”
It was nearly a costly mistake by Swift and Johnson made sure to hold him accountable. It doesn’t sound like Swift will be in the doghouse too long and learned from his mistake.
As the Bears look ahead to Sunday’s game against the Packers, they’ll need both backs playing at the best of their ability to continue the success this offense has created over the last two weeks.
