Backfield Trio Reunited for Bears

Khalil Herbert returns to form potent backfield trio again for Bears.

The three-headed Bears backfield monster is back.

When the Bears running game vaulted to the top of the NFL at a rate above 200 yards per game, they had David Montgomery, Justin Fields and Khalil Herbert all able to occupy defenses' attention in different ways.

Then the hip injury suffered By Khalil Herbert in a 57-yard effort against the Detroit Lions Nov. 13 sent him to the sidelines.

His formal return to the 53-man roster should come Friday or Saturday.  

"It's exciting just being able to be back out there with the guys and play football again," Herbert said. "It's been a long five weeks."

It's an intriguing return. 

When the Bears changed up their offense to start getting Justin Fields more involved as a runner, they put together a streak of 237 yards rushing against Washington, 243 against New England, 240 against Dallas, 252 against Miami and 258 against Detroit. They averaged 246 yards rushing a game.

Since then, without Herbert, they haven't gone over 160 and have averaged 149.7 yards for four games. Few teams would be dissatisfied with those numbers but it's nowhere near where they were with Herbert as a big-play threat alongside Fields.

"Unique style of running, the cool patience that he has," Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said of Herbert. "The way guys can  naturally bounce off of him I think is really cool."

The Bears had a nice balance with their running back corps.

"What's really nice too is it's a different type of back," Getsy said. "I think there's a value in that, and having two different types of style runners, like we're able to have here with D (Montgomery) and him and so I think that's really cool, too. And then he has the opportunity like we've seen to take what could be a 7-yard run and turn it into a big one because he has enough speed to do that as well."

Fields leads the NFL in yards per rush at 6.99 while Herbert is fourth but No. 1 among running backs at 5.95.

The question, though, is whether it can be the same after four games and five weeks away. There have been some changes since Herbert left. One is his own improvement.

Herbert thinks he's gotten better after watching extensive film of his own play. An area he focused on was trying to avoid losing yardage by using better lean.

"One of the biggest things, I feel like falling forward on all my runs, taking away the negative plays, trying to find a way to get a yard," he said.

Another change is the offense. 

Fields has begun throwing more often and with more accuracy, while continuing to keep a downfield focus. The Bears want to see more of this and it will take away carries somewhere.

Fields has attained a career high in passer rating of 88.0, despite being sacked NFL highs of 46 times for 299 yards in losses. He's up to 62% completions this year after being stuck forever in the 50s. And he still has a healthy 7.5 yards per attempt.

Herbert thinks this only helps open the attack even more..

"I really think downfield, in the pass game, just being able to come together, play complete football, being able to pass and throw the ball, the defense has to worry about everything," Herbert said.

The other thing that could take away attempts for Herbert is Fields' running. Their quarterback is still getting plenty of carries despite coach Matt Eberflus insisting they would reduce his carries.

Herbert doesn't really care about this aspect of it. He enjoyed seeing it while watching on injured reserve, and will now when he's playing.

"A lot of the time on the sideline my jaw was dropping," he said.

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