Ben Johnson needs more urgency from the Bears’ run game and the solution has to come from within with limited outside options
Chicago may have put themselves in a hole.
From the outside looking in, the start of the Ben Johnson era for the Chicago Bears has been a disaster, beyond the 0-2 start to the 2025 season.
Frankly, nothing has gone right for this team. Johnson, one of the league’s top offensive minds, is having to call the game with a hand tied behind his back. Meanwhile, what was a highly-regarded defense coming into the season, led by Dennis Allen, has given up 73 points in the last five quarters of play, and the scheme just isn’t working as the Bears had hoped without multiple top starters.
It’s a brutal reality for Chicago. However, inside the building, the faith of the coaches is unwavering. Johnson and his staff are starting to light a fire under the players, and soon enough, he will begin pulling weeds from the garden that are refusing to live up to the high standard being put in place.
One area in particular that has been incredibly frustrating over the first two games is the lack of a run game, not only a staple but a necessity in a Johnson-led offense. While the sense of urgency to improve is being pressed by the coaches, the Bears have limited options to fix the run game.
Should the lack of a run game be a bigger concern for the Bears in 2025?
The most annoying part is that this is something everyone saw coming. Going into the offseason, countless backs were linked to the Bears to give Johnson his ideal one-two punch with D’Andre Swift. Even in the draft, the Bears struck out on multiple top backs and didn’t address the position until the seventh round by drafting Kyle Monangai.
No discredit to Monangai. He’s come in and done everything that’s been asked of him and earned the trust from not only Johnson, but other offensive coaches. Yet, that level of trust from the coaches hasn’t shown up in the first two games.
Not counting QB scrambles, Swift has accounted for 69% of the Bears’ carries. Just counting the running backs, he’s accounted for 80.6% of the team’s workload. Six of Monangai’s seven carries this season came in the final drive of Week 2 with the backups in for garbage time.
The results with that share haven’t been pretty, and it’s not Johnson’s fault outside of the personnel usage. Swift ranked fourth in yards before contact per attempt, yet the Bears’ success on the ground is among the worst in the entire league.
The lack of a run game, paired with mental mistakes such as penalties, has killed nearly every drive for the Bears’ offense by putting the unit in long situations for quarterback Caleb Williams to try to convert against a defense that knows what’s coming. That won’t lead to any success, but as I mentioned, the Bears have limited options to try and fix that area.
Chicago only kept three running backs on the final roster in Swift, Monangai, and Roschon Johnson, with Brittain Brown as an option on the practice squad. We’ve discussed Swift’s inefficiency and the limited opportunities for Monangai. Johnson, meanwhile, has been fully nonexistent after not registering an offensive snap in his first active game last week.
So, where does Chicago go from here? ESPN’s Bill Barnwell wrote on Friday: “Don’t be shocked if the Bears go get someone who’s a more effective runner between the tackles and a sturdier pass blocker before the trade deadline.” But the options there are limited too.
Tank Bigsby and Brian Robinson Jr. were already traded this season. The free agent pool is headlined by Jamaal Williams (whom the Bears already passed on once), Zack Moss, and Gus Edwards. Other trade options include Kenneth Walker III (maybe?) or Dameon Pierce.
Even if the Bears made a move to acquire a new back who can run between the tackles, it would take weeks for that player to earn Johnson’s trust and see the field, based on how he has used the players currently on the roster.
The Bears have put themselves into this hole, and until the right opportunity shows up, if one even does, it’s on the players in the building to step up and execute.
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Bears’ offensive struggles are forcing Ben Johnson to have a hand tied behind his back and it has nothing to do with Caleb Williams
Something’s gotta change.
