What Happened to the Bears’ Ground Game?

The Bears are struggling to run the football, and though the reason why is pretty obvious, fixing it is another matter entirely. The casual fan wants to blame D’Andre Swift and his statistics so far give credence to that concern. Swift has a disappointing 68 yards on 37 carries through three games after joining the team as Chicago’s marquee free-agent signing. The fifth-year back has an explosive skill set which was evident with the Eagles last year. His struggles are an indictment of the offense, which just can’t seem to get untracked, as Shane Waldron’s scheme is a little disjointed to this point.

Anybody who blames Swift, however, is more reactionary than knowledgable.

“D’Andre Swift is bad.”

Counterpoint: pic.twitter.com/sZIhYSVIo4

— Al Smizzle (@AlZeidenfeld) September 26, 2024

Swift is struggling because opponents are stacking the box when the Bears are most likely to call a running play. The reasons are four-fold.

1. Chicago has a rookie quarterback in Caleb Williams.
2. The offensive line struggles to run block and misses its assignments – in unison – too often.
3. The line is also dealing with injuries to key players.
4. Williams has been too off-target on pass plays of 10 yards or more.

There’s your recipe for disaster when trying to run the football. The Colts on Sunday ran 15 defensive plays with eight players in the box, nine plays with seven in the box, and another six plays with nine defensive players on the line of scrimmage. You cannot block nine defenders with five offensive linemen.

Swift can’t get beyond the line in those instances, and if Williams audibles to a passing play, he has little time to find and hit a receiver. The return of wide receiver Keenan Allen will help a lot, and Williams has to continue to target Cole Kmet until opponents back off the line. Kmet caught 10 passes for 97 yards against Indianapolis in his best game of the season. Williams is also going to have to learn the proper adjustments when faced with that type of pressure. More importantly, he needs more time to make those play changes.

You know what? Things started to coalesce in the 4th quarter of Sunday’s game. Williams was 14-of-18 and Roschon Johnson averaged nearly four yards per carry when subbing for Swift. Johnson isn’t a better back than Swift, but the Colts knew that any play with Johnson in the backfield could be a pass. That’s just the nature of facing a backup for any defense.

The ill-fated play at the goal line right before halftime was simply a bad call. Chicago was on the one-inch line and faced nine defenders in the box. Waldron should know better, but perhaps he was trying to catch the Colts by surprise. It was an option play, however, so Williams should have dropped back to pass with no defenders in coverage. As you can see below, he committed too late and looked a little scared. It didn’t help that Waldron ran the ball to the short side of the field. It also didn’t help that the Bears had two wide receivers in formation to the left of Williams. Talk about telegraphing your intent.

The Bears lost 12 yards on 4th-and-goal from the 1-yard line.

(Via @NFLonCBS) pic.twitter.com/kEZ635JAUE

— Marquee Bears (@BearsMarquee) September 22, 2024

First of all, when the run game’s not working, take the points and kick a field goal. That’s a chip shot for Cairo Santos, shorter than an XPA. But Waldron called a weird speed option that had the offensive line slant-blocking in the same direction as the play. Coleman Shelton had no one in front of him and just fell to the ground. Matt Pryor whiffed on his man.

Afterward, Williams mentioned that he couldn’t check down because the play clock had already ticked below 10 seconds as the Bears lined up.

I can’t see the entire pre-snap formation because of the CBS graphics line, but based on the defenders, it looks like Chicago was also short a man. I count 10 players – five linemen, two tight ends, two wide receivers, plus Williams and Swift –  but if you have a better angle, please share. If the Bears had an 11th man on the field he would have been wide open. Waldron is fully to blame if that’s the case. The offensive coordinator did, however, accept the blame for calling a bad play.

“For us, just being able to communicate, get to the line of scrimmage a little bit faster there so we can get what we want out of the play, all those things start with me,” Waldron said. “I’ve got to be better in that situation, and I will be moving forward.”

Waldron is known as a pass-happy coordinator and that’s another problem for Chicago’s rushing attack. Williams dropped back nearly 60 times even though the Bears were within one score for most of the game. I know fans are calling for Swift to be benched in favor of Johnson, but that’s not the answer. The Bears need to be less predictable when calling offensive plays, give Williams time to make adjustments, and refuse to abandon the run game too soon.