The last time the Chicago Bears outran their opponent was in the 31-3 victory over the Cleveland Browns in Week 15 at Soldier Field. Ben Johnson’s offense rushed for 142 total yards and two touchdowns compared to the Browns’ 50 rushing yards.
Since then, though, the run game hasn’t been nearly as consistent as it was early on in the season. For a team that finished with the third-most rushing yards (2,456), Johnson's unit must find a way to get the run game going in the playoffs.
Against the Detroit Lions in the Week 18 season finale in Chicago, the Bears ran for a season-low 65 rushing yards. A week later in the Wild Card Round, Johnson’s offense finished with just 93 rushing yards, which would have been the fourth fewest for the Bears this season.
What is going on with Bears' running game?
The run game hasn’t been the same, and Johnson has taken notice.
“Yeah, it feels like it's dipped a little bit,” Johnson said. “Not something that we certainly want. Certainly, late in the season, we wanted that to pick up, playoffs, weather games like this, you certainly want to be able to lean on your run game. So those are some elements we're looking at. What can we do to help ignite that? It's both efficient runs to stay on track and ahead of the chains, and also explosive runs as well. Where can we find a few of those?”
Those are questions that Johnson and his offense will have to try to answer against a Rams defense that finished the regular season with the 12th fewest rushing yards allowed. In the Rams' 34-31 win in the Wild Card Round, Los Angeles limited Carolina to 83 rushing yards on 22 carries, but the Panthers did score three rushing touchdowns, including a 16-yard score by quarterback Bryce Young.
“I'll say this, we got a really tough opponent in that regard,” Johnson said. “I think they do a really good job. I think the front is their strength. These guys at the line of scrimmage are really good football players. I think they shed blocks at an elite level. I think they are relentless. I think they're violent really across the board. So I have a lot of respect for them, and we're gonna have to be on our ‘A’ game to be able to run it on this crew.’"
Someone who will play a part in getting the run game going is D’Andre Swift. The Bears’ running back mentioned that the team’s struggles to run the ball in the NFC Wild Card win against the Packers could stem from playing a team three times.
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“In games like that, I feel like you need to run the ball,” Swift said. “You need to be efficient in the running game. When you're not efficient coming out of it, you always look at different ways – it's good that we got the win, so we can correct those things this week. We’ve got to get back on track.”