The Chicago Bears already need some major changes on the offensive side of the ball. Perhaps it comes from an unexpected, late-round pick in this year’s draft.
Everything looked so promising for the first seven minutes and 56 seconds for the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football against the Minnesota Vikings after a three-and-out on defense and a 10-play, 61-yard touchdown drive that featured perfection from QB Caleb Williams (6/6, 51 yards, and a 9-yard rushing touchdown).
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The first half of the first quarter instilled major hope in the Chicago faithful at Soldier Field. The Ben Johnson era was off to a resounding start, and it felt different than years past.
Turns out, it was more of the same-old, same-old that Bears fans are accustomed to.
After the hot start, the offense only scored 10 points the remainder of the game, and despite the defense’s best efforts (with numerous key starters out), the Bears blew a 17-6 fourth-quarter lead and lost 24-27 to an NFC North rival.
Whole Offense Disappointed
It’s easy to scapegoat Caleb Williams for his poor performance after the opening drive. His overall inaccuracy and struggles throwing deep passes — a recurring issue — were on full display. Williams finished the game with an NFL-worst off-target rate of 29.4% in Week 1.
However, the run game was just as bad. Lead running back D’Andre Swift had 17 carries for 53 yards (3.1 yards per carry) with no touchdowns. Not great, especially after PFF ranked the Bears as the fourth-best offensive line in the league during the offseason. He was the only listed HB to receive a carry (WR DJ Moore had three carries for eight yards).
Johnson and Swift’s History
Ben Johnson and Swift were together for three years in Detroit; the first two with Johnson as a position coach and the last as offensive coordinator. However, in the last year they were together, Swift received the fewest carries per game of his career, while backup RB Jamaal Williams took over and received nearly triple the attempts and led the league in rushing touchdowns.
Swift subsequently left to join the Philadelphia Eagles the following year and had arguably the best year of his career, earning his first (and only) 1,000-yard season en route to a Pro Bowl nomination. Meanwhile, Johnson dominated in Detroit, helping them lead the league in scoring from 2022-2024.
It’s unclear if Johnson had a lot of trust in Swift in Detroit and if he was planning to give Swift a larger opportunity now in Chicago. But after Swift’s performance on Monday, it might be easy to understand where Johnson is coming from.
Releasing a Rookie
Johnson took the loss upon himself, saying “‘I didn’t think I called a particularly great game. I could’ve adjusted a little bit better to the lack of pressure that (Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores) was giving us.'”
Johnson elaborated on this statement earlier this week by saying he needs to call more designed runs, in large part to unleash Kyle Monangai, a rookie RB out of Rutgers University.
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Praise for Monangai
Despite a disappointing NFL Combine performance that saw Monangai fall in the draft, the Bears liked what they saw out of the former Scarlet Knight in college.
In particular, Monangai’s vision, balance, and pass protection are what stood out — the exact opposite of D’Andre Swift. Although Monangai lacks the breakaway speed that Swift can provide, he has traits that Swift has not developed in over half a decade in the NFL.
“He tends to do everything right,” said Johnson of Monangai during offseason training.
Sonic and Knuckles 2.0
In a sense, this is very similar (though probably less talented) to the running backs Johnson had at his disposal in Detroit. Referring to themselves as “Sonic and Knuckles” (referencing the video game Sonic the Hedgehog and his best friend), Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery are arguably the best 1-2 punch running back tandem in the league.
If Swift (as Sonic, the speedster) and Monangai (as Knuckles, strong and versatile) could produce numbers relatively close to what Gibbs/Montgomery were putting up with Johnson for the Lions the last two years, that really could pay dividends for this Bears offense.
Unlocking the Offense
Should Monangai break out as a “guy” in the backfield, the run game would obviously become much more respectable and force defenses to put more emphasis on how to stop them.
Furthermore, this allows Johnson to call play-action passes with a lot more success, which was his calling card in Detroit.
It’s not reasonable to expect Swift/Monangai to do what Gibbs/Montgomery are doing in Detroit. However, if the Bears can effectively utilize Monangai this upcoming weekend (coincidentally, on the road against the Lions) rather than have a heliocentric run game solely with Swift…
Watch out, rest of the league.
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