The Chicago Bears entered into the bye week at 7-2 on the season and currently hold the top spot in the NFC North after the first-half of the season. There’s a lot to be excited about from what this team showed over the first nine games.

Chicago has one of the top scoring offenses in the league, a near historic third-down defense, a much improved pass rush, and a special teams unit that continues to get better and better each week. That being said, there’s still plenty of things to improve in all three phases and that will be the goal for the coaching staff throughout this bye week.

On the offensive side of the ball, the big thing head coach Ben Johnson needs to tackle this week is the run game and getting that unit back up to being a dangerous threat this offense can lean into. The good news is, it’s a similar issue the Bears had last season going into the bye week and came out of the week off as one of the top rushing attacks in football.

Chicago Bears need to find improvements in the run game during the bye week

Through the first nine games of the season, the Bears rank third in the NFL with 142.0 rushing yards per game with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (163.9) and the Buffalo Bills (146.6) being the only teams listed above them. Running the ball has still been a success for this team from a per game standpoint, but the per carry standpoint is what the Bears should be looking to improve.

According to Sports Info Solutions, the Bears are averaging 4.2 yards per attempt, which ranks 13th in the NFL. Chicago is also 15th in the league averaging 2.6 yards after contact per attempt. The Bears had a clear goal coming into the season that they wanted to hit more explosives in the running game and get more out of their backs per carry. While the total numbers look good, it’s still easy to see how the Bears could improve in that area.

“I think we’re going to take a look at what we’re doing well right now. What we’re most consistent at. And schematically I think we’re a little bit different in terms of where we were this year compared to last year,” Johnson explained. “There are some things coming out of last year’s bye week that we’re able to lean into, and I’m hoping that we’re going to be able to find some nuggets like that of areas that we really can make more consistent.”

Prior to the bye week last season, the Bears averaged 102.3 rushing yards per game (24th in the NFL) and 3.8 yards per attempt (26th in the NFL). After the bye week, the Bears averaged 157.1 rushing yards per game (3rd in the NFL) and 5.1 yards per attempt (2nd in the NFL). Johnson found that nugget last year to unlock the run game, and I have full confidence that he’ll be able to do it again.

“Over the course of nine games, there’s only been three of those nine where we’re averaging over four yards a carry, which simply in our terms is just not good enough right now,” Johnson added. “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 going to need to come through for us.”

Kyle Monanagi’s return will provide a major boost

Johnson finding that secret nugget to get the run game going will help things out for the Bears. As will the return of Kyle Monangai. The Bears sat Monangai out again in Week 9 with the hope that the extended break will allow him to be fully healthy when the Bears are back in action in Week 11 against the New Orleans Saints.

The last time we saw Monangai in action, he carried the ball 30 times for 146 yards (4.9 yards per attempt) with two touchdowns. However, Monangai suffered a turf toe during that game and has since missed the last five games.

“Kyle’s a big part of that running game, and I think he’s proven his worth over the last year and a half,” Johnson said. “So, like I said last week, whenever we’re able to get him back on the field, it’s going to make us a better team and certainly a better running game.”

Looking at the numbers from last season, Monangai was a big part of the team’s post-bye turnaround. In Weeks 1-4 of the 2025 season, Monangai averaged 20.7 rushing yards per game and 3.6 yards per attempt. From Weeks 6-18, Monangai averaged 55.5 rushing yards per game and 4.7 yards per attempt. Plus, his stye is built for that “Bear-weather.”

Not only that, Monangai’s return will also help break up the workload in the backfield. Since Monangai’s injury in Week 4, D’Andre Swift has handled 74 percent of the carries at the running back position. That’s a lot of work for a player the team ideally wanted to keep fresh and explosive.

“He’s reliable. I mean, he’s somebody that we trust a lot in,” offensive coordinator Press Taylor said of Swift. “We want to do our best to keep him as fresh as possible throughout the course of the season. There’s certain times where it looks like he could use a breather at times and we’re ready to roll with the other guys that need to be available for him right there. Then there’s certain times where he feels fresh, he looks fresh, he’s ready to go.”

Having Monangai back and his physical presence, and the benefit of keeping Swift fresh and explosive, will also go a long way toward making this run game more consistent. Which will then help the whole offense become even more dangerous down the stretch like we saw last season.