D’Andre Swift didn’t live up to his standards last season.
The veteran running back finished with a career-low 3.8 yards per carry and 959 rushing yards, which was a step back after posting his highest rushing total with the Eagles in 2023.
"A lot of stuff didn't end how I wanted to, selfishly for me, how I played,” Swift said on Tuesday following Day 1 of mandatory minicamp. “As a team, it's kind of the same thing. We won four (five) games last year. So everything is under a microscope when you don't have team success. I'm being very critical about how I played last year. Excited about this year."
What fuels that excitement for Swift is opportunity. The new coaching staff, led by head coach Ben Johnson, gives Swift another chance to showcase that his 2024 season doesn’t define him as a running back.
D'Andre Swift's Bears' career is given new life under Ben Johnson
There was plenty of talk leading up to the 2025 NFL Draft about the Bears wanting to pursue another ball carrier high in the draft. The Bears didn’t end up doing that, but the interest was there from the organization.
"Whatever they were going to do, my mindset wasn't going to change,” Swift said. “If they brought somebody in, if they do or they don't, my mindset was to come in and go to work, and to be undeniable, to be honest with you."
Helping Swift commit to that mindset is by staying on track, which for a running back means following the aiming points in a designed run play, but it can also mean “the little stuff is big; details, tracks. How Ben wants it has to be to a T,” according to Swift.
Those details are everything to this coaching staff. It’s one of the many positive elements that Swift has to appreciate about this version of the Bears.
“Like if you were out there today, the energy from top to bottom, like if you
don't feel it, y'all should see it,” Swift said. “If something's not right, you hear a whistle, we're starting over, and things like that. Nothing is getting blown by the wayside. It's good to have that early on. If everybody buys into what Ben and all of the coaches are trying to get us to, I feel like we're going to be very, very, very special."
It’s accountability, something Swift and many of his teammates wanted from their next coaching staff following the end of last season, and now they have it. Running backs coach Eric Bieniemy is just one of the many coaches on staff who embody those coaching practices.
“His style of coaching is something I kind of gravitate to, to be honest with you, holding everybody accountable,” Swift said. “The little stuff is big stuff with him, as well, like the details and everything like that. The type of coach that you want to play for. He isn't going to let anything go by the wayside, just like Ben and everybody else on the staff. I think that you kind of turn your level up, as well.”
Going to that next level is exactly what the Bears are going to need from Swift. Instead of signing a running back in free agency and spending high draft capital on the position, the Bears chose to select Kyle Monangai in the seventh round.
If the running game is successful this upcoming season, Swift will likely have played a major part in making that happen. It will also be on him if things go in the other direction. Based on Swift’s mindset, that’s a challenge he is willing to take.
"I'm self-motivated,” Swift said. “I don't need anybody, clips or highlights or anything like that (to motivate). Like I said, I know who I am, and I know what I'm about. What motivates me is the work that I put in, how I prepare. If I do that, which I continue to do, I'm just excited. I can't express that enough. Excited to play for Ben and EB (Bieniemy)."