Ben Johnson was hired to do two things for the Chicago Bears: fix the culture and fix the offense. He did both in his first season as head coach, and there's certainly room for things to be even better on the latter front this year.
The Bears third-ranked rushing attack from last year is set to run it back with D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai sharing the backfield work. The workload could shift toward Monangai this season, but Swift isn't going away and he's sure to continue thriving in his role.
To put it simply, there isn't going to be much work left for anyone else in the Bears' backfield if things go as planned. Swift and Monangai combined for 392 of the Bears' 400 running back carries last year, and there's no reason for that to change dramatically this year.
Bears matched with free agent who is simply not a fit
Among notable available NFL free agents ahead of training camp, Joe Mixon may be off the radar. He missed all of last season with the Houston Texans due to a foot injury, and he was inevitably released in March. Since then, there has been no indication he will retire or that any teams are interested.
Daniel Outerbridge of SI.com, taking the fantasy football angle, has the Bears among his four best landing spots for Mixon.
"With D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai as RB1 and RB2, the Bears have a solid duo. They led Chicago with the third-best rushing attack and were the only RB duo to rush for over 750 yards apiece. Bears head coach Ben Johnson has been extremely successful with RBs; the perfect example was his tenure as the offensive coordinator in Detroit, where he had Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery at his disposal. Imagine what he could do with the talented Mixon?"
"Johnson has such an innovative offensive mind that he would figure out a way to utilize Mixon even with Swift and Monangai solidified on the depth chart. Adding Mixon to the roster would be great news for quarterback Caleb Williams, giving him another weapon to utilize, but that won't bode well for fantasy football. A Mixon signing in the Windy City would cap Swift's upside, and could take away touches in the red zone. That would leave Mixon as a boom-or-bust gamble to find the end zone on a weekly basis."
After missing all of last season, Mixon is a boom-or-bust gamble in any context this year, and it's worth questioning how much boom there can be as he approaches his 30th birthday on July 24. There may be a team out there that eventually takes that low-risk gamble, but the Bears don't fit on any list of teams who might consider it.
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An injury can change the equation instantly. But even in that situation, the Bears would probably have to be way down their list of available running back options before they'd consider signing Mixon.
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