Rehab Project: How Bears Revive Their Running Game

One of the NFL's worst running teams last year has embarked on a program to breathe new life into the ground game but it's not a quick-fix thing

The way the Bears ran the ball in 2019 discouraged everyone on offense.

It's part of the reason they went away from the running game at times. Why try doing something you can't do? It makes little sense to keep running when they were 29th overall in rushing, had the second-fewest runs of 5 to 10 yards in the league according to Football Outsiders, and the third-fewest plays that gained 10 yards or more.

It didn't matter what aspect of the running game you were talking about, the Bears couldn't execute it last year.

They were next to last in the league at picking up first downs or touchdowns in short-yardage situations according to Football Outsiders.

So the plan to improve their running attack now has very little to do with David Montgomery and Ryan Nall or any ball carriers, but does include minor personnel change. The other aspects of the changes involve football at a basic level.

They've gone through and re-examined what plays they call and how they want them blocked against specific defenses.

Offensive coordinator Bill Lazor was brought in partly because of his experience with passing games but he also has been involved in designing the running game. The Bears didn't hire a run game coordinator, although offensive line coach Juan Castillo is taking on some of those responsibilities.

Design

How they plan running plays can make all the difference.

"Personally, I think it's critical," Lazor said. "I think the real critical part of it is that everyone's together on how it's designed because there are different ways to get it done. There are some teams that are great run teams that are zone schemes. There are some teams that are great run teams that are more man schemes. So there a lot of ways to do it.

"I think the key is that you have everyone understanding this is our philosophy of how we're going to run the ball. This is what's important to us. This is how your technique has to match it and how we coordinate everyone together with the calls, with the timing, with the formations."

Last year too often the Bears looked like a team in disarray on running plays. It's how a runner who obviously could break tackles like Montgomery could have only five runs of 15 yards or more.

The Bears tried plenty of run-pass option and blockers didn't get stuffed. Montgomery didn't get stuffed much, either.

But defenses congregated at the line and kept blockers from getting to the second level. Montgomery didn't get past the first wave of the defense.

A better overall coordinated effort and timed up blocking can make the difference.

"The coordinated effort, everyone on the same plage, be true to the vision, that's the most important part," Lazor said.

Personnel

Lazor said the way to build a running game in many cases is to draft or sign free agent blockers geared toward the vision of the running game, but sometimes existing talent is capable of adjusting.

He admitted he's not going to be sure as to the extent of adjusting the linemen can do until actual pads come on, starting Aug. 17. Until then the Bears are operating in shorts and helmets like in OTAs.

"So sometimes there's some adjustment and you can get a little bit of an idea of that in OTAs when there is no pads because you can see movement skill, but usually it's not until pads come on that you can make those final (personnel) decisions."

The biggest personnel decision facing the Bears on the offensive line is whether Rashaad Coward or Germain Ifedi will beneift the running game most. No one is saying it in so many words yet but Ifedi seems to be the player whose position it is to lose.

"I think that the thing about Germain is that you know he's played four, you know he played four years, he started at guard his first year and then he's started at tackle so he has a lot of game time experience and that's very important," Castillo said. "You know when you saw him on tape you saw that he played for a physical team, Seattle was a physical team and he's one of the guys that was physical. I mean, he was a starter at guard and at tackle."

Getting Ifedi operating on the same page with the rest of the line will be important.

"I think the key is when you talk about playbook I think the first thing is rules, having rules," Castillo said.

Each play and situation has rules for what linemen do in the zone scheme.

"So right now what we're really working on is I'm trying to teach our players the rules without looking at all the fronts," Castillo said. "When you're able to break down and give the guys a rule then it doesn't matter what front is put in front of them then they'll understand where to go."

Especially now, with little time to get an offense ready due to the lack of offseason practice time, this is important to get down.

"All right, you're covered, you do this, you're uncovered you do that," Castillo explained. "It doesn't really matter how they're lined up and that's the way I'm trying to teach Germain so it ends up being as simple as it could be for the plays."

It's Fundamentals

In the end it comes down to executing sound fundamentals in executing the blocks and that's where Castillo smiles and talks about repetitions. He wants his linemen working extra time on their own, and running plays "over and over and over and over and over."

"You know we have a good baseline to start with and Germain was one of those guys that when we picked him up, him and I talked about you know that we needed to work on him playing square and being able to be square in the pass protection," Castillo added. "And then by February we're going to talk about that, "Juan, he kept talking about doing it over and over and you know what he's doing everything over and over and over and those guys got it."

None of the changes to their running game sound simple and easy, from fundamentals and repetitions to design.

They've gutted the running game and tried to rebuild it at a base level. They've tried to do in a way which actually could allow it to work.

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