Chicago Bears: Tarik Cohen hyper efficient in passing game
The Chicago Bears have continued to use Tarik Cohen in the passing game, and he continues to reward them
A revelation started in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers game. While everyone will point to that game as the day Mitch Trubisky broke out, it indeed was the day that Tarik Cohen became the best player on the offense.
Cohen had been held in check for three weeks, with minimal work on the ground and 48 receiving yards through three games. Then, against Tampa Bay, he not only tied his season high in rushing but he also more than doubled his season receiving output. Cohen put up 121 yards through the air to show that he is a key force in the offense.
From there, it was on. As Mitch Trubisky has gone up and down since his breakout performance against the Bucs, Cohen has shot directly up.
Cohen has had 90,69, and 70 receiving yards in the three weeks since then. This is no longer nice breakout; this is who Cohen is.
When looking at Cohen through the broad context of the NFL, not many players are better at being a successful pass-catching running back than Cohen.
This season, the Chicago Bears rank 10th in the NFL in pass attempts to the running back. However, despite that, the Bears rank second in yards on passes to the running backs, averaging 8.6 yards per attempt. This was only behind the Kansas City Chiefs, who average about a full yard more per attempt. Still, the Chargers sit in third in yards per attempt to the running backs, and they sit at 8 yards per pass.
However, so far this season the Chargers lead the league in success rate when passing to running backs. Success rate is a better indicator than yards per attempt because short passes that result in touchdowns are considered successful and do not affect yards per attempt as often.
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Still, while the Chargers lead the league in success rate when passing to running backs, and while the Chiefs sit right behind at number two, there are the Chicago Bears as the third most successful team throwing to their running backs.
While that is a team stat, it is quite apparent that Tarik Cohen is the main reason the Bears excel here. This can be put into even more context when looking at running efficiency. DYAR looks at success rate and adjusts it to the defense playing. They look at each running backs success rate at an individual basis.
In this regard, Tarik Cohen ranks fourth behind James White, Austin Ekeler and Kareem Hunt. So, while White has been added to the mix, it once again is Cohen involved with the Chiefs and the Chargers as the most efficient pass-catching backs.
The fact of the matter is that Tarik Cohen is not going away. Over the last three weeks, he has been the Bears best offensive player. He has also been elite in efficiency, success, and pure yardage compared to all of his peers.
The Bears have just started to get Cohen involved and now will only build new paths as the compilation of tape continues to grow. Remember when Dowell Loggains and John Fox couldn’t figure out how to get Cohen on the field? Those days seem like 30 years ago.