Bears HC Ben Johnson finally says what everyone’s been saying about D’Andre Swift and credit to the staff for turning his game around
He’s been awesome this season in the new offense.
Going into the first season under head coach Ben Johnson, the Chicago Bears expected to see a major jump in the team’s rushing attack and while it took a couple weeks to start up, the Bears are literally rolling through opponents on the ground.
Entering Week 16, the Bears rank second in the NFL with 151.9 rushing yards per game and sixth in the NFL with 17 rushing touchdowns. It’s the backbone of this offense and playing with a physical mindset is something Johnson wanted to bring back to Chicago since being hired.
The Bears are also deploying a lethal one-two punch in the backfield with D’Andre Swift and seventh-round rookie Kyle Monangai. The emergence of Monangai has been a welcome sight and an awesome story, but the revitalized play of Swift this season has truly been eye-opening compared to the player Bears fans saw last season in Chicago.
Ben Johnson is pleased with how D’Andre Swift is playing and it’s night and day from 2024
This season, Swift has already totaled 1,189 scrimmage yards and ranks 12th in the league with 935 rushing yards with three games left to be played in the regular season. In six games this season, Swift has averaged over 5.0 yards per carry after having four such games in 2024.
“He’s disciplined on his landmarks, probably the most disciplined I’ve seen him be since he’s been in his career now,” Johnson told reporters on Tuesday. “Just staying right on the track and trusting the blocking up-front and helping set up some of those blocks. . .
We saw last week, him take that game to the next level where he’s able to make some of those tackles on the second and third level miss and become really explosive, big gains, for us. That’s what he’s always had in his body and that’s we’ll continue to need from here on out.”
Anyone who watched Swift closely last season saw a player that struggled to trust his blocks and hit the intended hole and struggled even more creating more yards after contact. In fact, Swift’s 2.5 yards after contact per attempt ranked 40th among 50 players with 100+ carries last season.
Scheme certainly plays a role in Swift’s 2025 turnaround, as does an improved offensive line with four new additions up-front clearing the way in the run game.
Offensive line additions have played a big role in helping D’Andre Swift bounce back
Rebuilding the offensive line was a big point of emphasis for Johnson after arriving in Chicago and the additions of Joe Thuney, Drew Dalman, Jonah Jackson, and rookie Ozzy Trapilo have more than delivered for this offense, even if it took a couple weeks to fully gel together.
“It’s taken just a little bit of time for the O-line and the backs to all get on the same page, but since the bye week, I feel like we’ve been unified,” Johnson added. “Everyone understands what the intent is. That’s the starting point for (Swift).”
Truthfully, it’s the starting point for both backs. Entering Week 16, Swift (590) and Monangai (416) each rank in the Top-20 in rushing yards before contact and each rank in the Top-10 in rushing yards before contact per attempt. That’s a clear OL stat if I’ve ever seen one and it’s not just the offensive line that’s played a key role in the success from the RB position.
Coaching matters too
When construction his first staff as a head coach, Johnson made some absolute home run hires. Landing Eric Bieniemy as the team’s running back coach was certainly one of those big swings that 31 other teams overlooked.
“Eric Bieniemy’s doing a phenomenal job with all those backs,” Johnson said. “He takes a lot of pride in finishing, he takes a lot of pride in playing physical football, takes a lot of pride in pass protection, all the things that I think a good running back coach embodies, that’s what Eric Bieniemy’s about. That certainly augments the rest of those guys in that room.”
Both backs are clearly buying into what Bieniemy is preaching day-to-day and buying into the scheme when it comes to hitting holes and then showing off their unique abilities. For Swift specifically, it’s been awesome to see him flip the switch this season and finally get unlocked to his true potential that many fans knew was in there waiting to shine.
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