Bear Digest

More Physical Bears Offense Opens the Way for Better Production

Bears hit the blocks for the running game and then were able to make the key pass plays they needed in their most consistent effort on offense of the year.

Gene Chamberlain

D'Andre Swift is off to the races after a big block by Cole Kmet on a 36-yard touchdown run in Sunday's Bears win.
D'Andre Swift is off to the races after a big block by Cole Kmet on a 36-yard touchdown run in Sunday's Bears win. / Matt Marton-Imagn Images
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It jumped out at you.

Film with violence always does, but this one wasn't rated PG-13 or R. It was the Bears game film from Sunday.

"I thought there was a lot of good violence on tape up front," Bears tight end Cole Kmet said.

The Bears offense got physical with the Rams on the line of scrimmage in a way they hadn't done so far this season and it resulted in their big runs as well as some of the bigger pass plays. One of those was the 36-yard touchdown by D'Andrew Swift that Kmet made possible with a cut block at the point of attack. The Bears got the run blocking going and it opened everything up.

"That was really good to see," Kmet said. "Obviously there are things we need to get cleaned up pre-snap wise if we want to stay efficient and stay ahead of the chains in that regard. But a lot of good things I thought with violence on tape up front.

"And that shows in some of the explosive in the run game and being able to get that first first down in that 4-minute scenario before we punted it back, those are big. Those are tough scenarios. You're really not getting favorable looks in the run game and you kind of have to make it work. And I thought we did a good job there."

Swift's best game of the season at 93 yards on 16 carries with a 36-yard TD ruRoschon Johnson's 1-yard TD run, came on excellent blocks and schemes designed to pop a runner open.

It all provided an extra concern for the defense to take pressure off quarterback Caleb Williams to produce big plays in the passing game. Their scores on four consecutive possessions for all 24 points was the kind of consistency they've been hoping to achieve on offense.

"It was just detail in terms of the detail of the blocks, guys being on the details," coach Matt Eberfulus said. "I thought it was the runners. The runners did a really good job of running downhill. The types of runs were a little bit different. They were a little bit more downhill type runs.

"The perimeter blocking was good. The reason you make those explosive plays is, the perimeter blocking is there as well. It takes all 11 of the guys to get that done. The detail was really good."

Swift had looked a bit lost the first three games and was talking to anyone at Halas Hall on the coaching staff who might provide insight into why he was struggling.

"Just him working, him trying to find answers in terms of what he could do better," Eberflus said. "He asked several people that same question and he really took to heart what people were saying to him—his running back coach, the offensive coordinator, he asked me about it. And I told (media) last week about pressing the hole and making the cut, that will really help the offense alignment out and he did that. So it comes down to doing the ordinary extraordinary. That's what he did yesterday."

In terms of the run busting loose, Eberflus saw it coming and thought there was more to it than the "violence" along the line.

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"I thought it was just the details, not only just in practice but in the walkthrough in terms of how we were detailing our walkthrough and making it a little more game-like in that regard which is not easy to do necessarily in a walkthrough.

"But getting our fits correct so the backs can see where the ball should be hitting. All those are good mental reps to have. That's kind of what played into the success on Sunday."

The offensive line improvement came with a drawback included. Left guard Teven Jenkins suffered bruised ribs, according to Eberflus, and his status is day to day, so they won't know until later in the week whether he'd be available or whether Matt Pryor will retain that spot.

The other aspect of getting the run going was to throw defenses off the scent of the Bears rookie QB. It worked to some extent, even though they allowed three sacks.

They were able to use play-action passes better with the run working. The 22-yard pass thrown to Kmet on second down one play before the 36-yard breakaway TD run by Swift was an example.

Kmet sees Williams relying more on the run and play-action to get longer throws as the next step. Or, at least he'll realize he has the option of going downfield.

"I mean, he's going to have opportunities to rip the ball downfield as the run game gets going and as we develop that more and more, but yeah, I think it's having that discernment of wanting to know to be aggressive but also playing to what the defense is giving you. And if they're going to give you first downs you won't go broke taking a profit doing that type of stuff."

The end result is a more wide open attack and one capable of more big plays.

It all gives the Bears confidence they can pull out wins in tight games in the future, just as they did Sunday down the stretch.

"Guys are really believing in each other and believing in themselves and believing in our football team," Eberflus said. "When you have a performance like that at the very end to be able to pull that out like that, it's good. It's like the first (game). The first week, we were down, being able to come back and do that, so it's just about being consistent in our practice, in our preparation, and then in-game."

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.