The Bear’s Offense: Looking at the Running Backs

The running game seemed to become an afterthought in 2009 as, after having a strong first season with the Bears, starting running back Matt Forte fell off a little bit and wasn’t as productive as he had been. He had some knee problems during the season and with the Bears featuring the passing game much more he didn’t see the carries that he did the season before. Chicago also lost his primary backup, Kevin Jones, in the preseason and didn’t feel that the backups that they had were qualified enough to give Forte a bigger spell from games. They didn’t start changing things up a lot until their game against the Eagles.

Backing up Forte will be Jones, Adrian Peterson, Garrett Wolfe and Kahlil Bell. Not one of these players would put a big fear in the heart of any defense so the Bears may want to take a look at getting someone in free agency or the draft to help backup at the running back position.

Let’s take a look at the current group of running backs that the Bears have on their roster right now. We will take a look at how they played in 2009, how things look this offseason and whether or not they will make the final roster at the end of training camp this summer.

Matt Forte-Forte was the starter last season at the running back position and after such a great rookie season, Forte trailed off a little bit in 2009. Some of this is not his fault as the Bears were forced to pass the ball much more often because they fell behind in many of their games and also felt that quarterback Jay Cutler could help them win games much more than their passing game could. The old phrase that head coach Lovie Smith used so often in the past (that they get off the bus running the football) went out the door and the Bears made their living in the passing game.

All together, Forte played in and started in all 16 games for the Bears in 2009 carrying the ball 258 times for 929 yards with an average of 3.6 yards per rush. He had a long of 61 yards and ran for four touchdowns. He caught 57 passes for 471 yards with an average of 8.3 yards per catch. He didn’t have any receiving touchdowns during the season and had six fumbles with three lost. The Bears will work this offseason to see what they can do to get Forte more involved in the game and get him some more touches but a lot of that depends on what kind of offense the Bears decide to run next season. Will pass happy Mike Martz allow for more running next season? If he does then Forte should have a fine season but if he doesn’t Forte could be in for a long season.

Kevin Jones-Jones didn’t make it into the regular season last year as he broke his ankle in the Bear’s preseason game against the Cleveland Browns. He was missed and his presence would have meant much more rest for Forte and even some two back formations that could have helped the Bears out a lot in their running game. Jones should be ready to go though and should be used much more often if the Bears choose to run the ball a lot in 2010.

Garrett Wolfe-Wolfe has definitely had a hard time getting anything going with the team thanks to the coaching staff as well as injury problems that he has suffered during his career in Chicago. During the 2009 season, Wolfe played in eight games last year and didn’t start any of them. He carried the ball 22 times for 120 yards with an average of 5.5 yards per rush. He had one rushing touchdown and his longest rush was 36 yards. He caught two passes for 12 yards.

Wolfe was hurt in the middle of the season but should be back in time for practices in the spring. The biggest question is what will the Bears do with him if they figure out that he can work well with the team. However, he really hasn’t proven that much with the team since he has come there (except for the fact that he is good at special teams) so if he does stick with the team it will be because Martz figures that he can use him and he is needed on special teams.

Kahlil Bell-Bears fans will remember Bell and his big 72 yard run against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night football. After that, he saw some action in relief of Forte and didn’t do too bad but still wasn’t given as many opportunities as he should have gotten. All together, Bell played in seven games with no starts and had 40 carries for 220 yards with an average of 5.5 yards per rush. He had no touchdowns but he did catch one pass for four yards.

Depending on what the Bears do during the offseason, we should see them retain all of the players at the running back position except for Peterson and quite possibly Wolfe. They need to get some additional talent in there to help push those players that are already there and perhaps find a gem to help back Forte up. It’s important that the Bears find someone to be a much better backup than what they already have because if Forte goes down the Bears could be in a lot of trouble.