Bear Digest

What Happens to Bears Running Game in Caleb Williams Era?

With a passer like Caleb Williams expected to come to Chicago, the running attack might take on less importance but how much?

Gene Chamberlain

How Roschon Johnson, D'Andre Swift and Khalil Herbert are used this season might look different but in the end they'll still have a heavy enough run emphasis.
How Roschon Johnson, D'Andre Swift and Khalil Herbert are used this season might look different but in the end they'll still have a heavy enough run emphasis. / Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports
In this story:

What Caleb Williams brings to the Bears offense is critical and the receivers he throws to are just as important.

What gets lost in the shuffle is how the necessary part of their offense will look and be handled.

That's the running game.

Even after the Bears bring in Williams, and even if they were to draft a receiver like Rome Odunze at No. 9 to complete a triumvirate with DJ Moore and Keenan Allen, they're not passing every play.

The running game proved their most dependable way of advancing the football the last three seasons. In fact, each of the last three seasons they increased their rushing attempts from 11th in attempts to third in 2022 when they finished first in rushing yards, to second last year when they were second in rushing yards.

It's probably going to be a culture shock for Bears fans to see an offense far less dependent on rushing attempts to move the ball.

In an article for NFL.com, Around the NFL writer Kevin Patra projected D'Andre Swift will be among the backs who changed teams and will rush for less yards this year. It's more of a logical assumption because he had just doubled his previous best for rushing yards to 1,049.

However, part of the reason for saying this was a balanced approach from offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.

The Bears running game will not be put away in a drawer as Waldron has Williams throw every play like it's a modern-day version of the run-and-shoot attack.

When Waldron took over as offensive coordinator in Seattle, the Seahawks had run it 358 times and passed 563 times. The rushing total includes planned runs by quarterbacks and not scrambles.

In his first season, they upped the rushing total to 386 minus scrambles and dropped the pass total by 68 to 495.

In both  subsequent years, they ran the ball more.

They ran it 392 times in 2022 and in 2023 they ran 401 times. The difference was the volume of plays they had. They also passed more as they had 573 passes in 2022 after 495 his first year, then 575 passes in his third year.

Waldron says he has progressed as play caller from Year 1 through Year 3.

"Just like it's no different for a player, you know, the more reps you accumulate, the more situations that are put in front of you, the more and more natural it becomes to react with a positive decision in those scenarios right there," he said.

Considering the trend and what he said about getting more reps, it's safe to say he's going to call plenty of running plays.

It might not look like 2022, when the Bears ran a greater percentage of their plays than any team in the NFL had since 2004. It probably won't look like last year, either.

However, there will be balance between the run and the pass.

They didn't bring Swift in during free agency just to pass more, although he counts receiving as a strength. Waldron's past says there should be plenty of rushing attempts to go around, even for a three-headed rushing attack like they'll use.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

Published |Modified
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.

Home/News