Ben Johnson defends Bears’ backfield: 'We’re fine there'

Ariana Pensy · Correspondent · 2 hours ago

CHICAGO - The run game has been challenging to watch most of this season for the Chicago Bears. Starting running back D’Andre Swift has a total of 187 rushing yards through four games. That is a large problem for the Bears going forward.

However, head coach Ben Johnson seemed to imply the Bears will not be trading for a running back before the deadline.

“It’s not always the runners. It’s everybody, and it’s the quarterback carrying out his fake. It’s the receivers blocking down the field,” Johnson said. “It’s the tight ends doing their job and the same thing with the offensive line. There’s a lot of times on that tape we’re not giving our runners a chance. So, I think we’re fine there.”

Part of the problem in the run game is the offensive line. At the start of the second half against the Las Vegas Raiders, all five offensive linemen were not starters for Chicago last week. Therefore, there is a lack of chemistry between these players that is expected to continue growing throughout the season.

Nonetheless, Johnson said they are not yet where they need to be.

“It’s hard to evaluate any of our running backs right now when you turn on the tape and there’s some free runners in the hole where the play’s designed to go and so, (I) take it personally because I actually spend more time on the run game than I do on the passing game and not only trying to create explosives in the running game, but being sound and take a lot of pride in our execution of the fundamentals,” Johnson said. “We’re not quite there yet and so, it’s been a race since training camp started (and) we get the pads on. That’s when the full speed starts happening and you get linebackers that are coming downhill and pulling you off your double teams and we’re just not reacting fast enough right now and so, we got to learn from everything that we put on tape so far as an entire unit so that those combinations can be a lot cleaner and so we give our runners a chance because we do have some dynamic players whether it’s our running backs or our receivers that if we can give them a chance to get a little bit of green grass, they take advantage of it. But, we just haven’t done it consistently.”

Defensively, the Bears have been dealing with numerous injuries. However, one of those players could return soon - cornerback Kyler Gordon. Gordon has not been able to play all season so far due to a hamstring injury, but has a chance to return against the Washington Commanders on Monday, Oct. 13 (7:15 p.m. / ABC).

Especially given Chicago’s struggles in defending the rush, Gordon’s return could be huge for the Bears in this game and throughout the rest of the season.

“I think there’s only a handful of nickels in this league that you really have to account for both as a coverage player, but also a guy that likes to be nosy in the run game and could be part of the solution for us here in terms of shoring up our run game as well,” Johnson said. “He’s got those natural football instincts that are really hard to coach and hard to teach, and when you have enough players like that, that’s where you really take off in a hurry.”