Over the last two games, we have seen a dramatic decrease in overall rushing performance from the Chicago Bears.
Now, the elephant in the room here is the fact that Kyle Monangai has missed these games. Monangai is vital to this Bears league-leading rushing attack, and the offense has missed him greatly.
D'Andre Swift, on the other hand, hasn't been on the injury report and, by all front-facing accounts, is healthy.
Or is he?
A recent D'Andre Swift trend should have Bears fans questioning his health
If you look a little further into the ground game, you'll notice something alarming: Swift has a total of five second-half carries over the last two games. Five total.
In the second half against the Green Bay Packers in Week 5, Swift was given only one carry that went for eight yards. Then, against the Falcons in Week 6, he had just four carries.
When speaking on the subject, offensive coordinator Press Taylor admitted that Swift's second-half usage has been largely due to wanting to preserve him for the full length of the season. And, while that makes sense, I still don't think it's telling the whole story.
Leading up to the Green Bay game, Swift was dealing with knee and hip injuries. But, he played in that game and the following week in Atlanta.
In the two games he's had since dealing with those injuries, though, do we think it's any coincidence that he's essentially been shelved in the second half?
Go back and watch him run these past two weeks and you'll notice that he doesn't look quite like himself, either. He isn't as shifty and has not run with as much explosion or aggression.
It is apparent that Swift very well could still be dealing with these injuries, but they haven't kept him out of practice.
The Bears cannot possibly be "riding the hot hand" at times with Roschon Johnson. He's looked like anything but the hot hand for the vast majority of his touches this season. Outside of maybe three or four plays, in fact, Johnson has had me going full-on Wolverine laying in bed gripping a photo of Kyle Monangai.
The Bears can't get Kyle Monangai back soon enough
And I think that's where this story leads: all the way back to Monangai.
The Bears have been careful with Swift because there is absolutely no possible way he's been fully healthy. But, he's been "healthy enough" to roll out there on game days.
Still, with Monangai actually missing time, Chicago knows it cannot force the issue with Swift, thus risking being down both of their top two running backs.
God forbid we have to suffer through an entire game of Roschon Johnson and whatever reserve running back Ben Johnson pairs him up with.
Right now, this Bears offense is basically surviving when it comes to the ground game. Swift has not been himself. Roschon is less than ideal and only a Band-Aid at this point. The Bears have rushed for less than 100 yards in two-straight games, yet somehow still lead the NFL in this category, through six weeks.
Until Monangai returns, and until Swift is fully healthy, this is what we're going to see.
Thankfully, Caleb Williams is back and can handle the load being on his shoulders. The offense is finally looking like what we all imagined, but still isn't at full strength because of Monangai's ailment.
When the hard-nosed running of Monangai returns to the field, that'll take some pressure off Swift and allow the Bears to be much more balanced -- and with two backs who are capable of handling the load on any given drive, unlike [Roschon] Johnson has shown.
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If Monangai isn't back against the Patriots, hopefully the extended break helps him get back to full strength by the time Week 8 rolls around.
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