The Chicago Bears need Khalil Herbert to improve in this one area very quickly
The Chicago Bears are set to play against the Colts tonight in their Week 2 preseason game. The team has already announced that Justin Fields and select starters will not play. We don't know yet who those select starters are, but I'd assume guys like DJ Moore, Cole Kmet and even Khalil Herbert will not play tonight. If Herbert does play, I will be focusing on one key factor that he has struggled with for his entire NFL career -- blocking.
The starting offense only saw seven snaps last week vs the Titans. The team scored on two screens. The first was a WR screen to DJ Moore that went for 62 yards. The second was a RB screen to Khalil Herbert that he took for 56 yards and a score. Justin Fields only threw the ball one other time and although it was a very, very small sample size, the blocking by Herbert was not good.
The Chicago Bears need Khalil Herbert to improve his blocking skills
It is no secret that Khalil Herbert struggled with pass blocking last season. In fact, it was one reason why I was fine with Ryan Poles bringing back David Montgomery. Poles decided to move on from Montgomery (or Montgomery decided to follow more money) and he brought in D'Onta Foreman and Travis Homer to help fill some of that void. Foreman isn't any slouch and I thought he'd have a solid chance of becoming the lead back. Homer is a third-down back only. Honestly, the most complete back on the roster, including blocking ability, might actually be rookie RB, Roschon Johnson.
Alright, back to the play in question. On the very first play by the Chicago Bears offense, Justin Fields hits FB, Khari Blasingame on a quick pass into the flat on the righthand side. Blasingame gains 11 yards on the play, but if you watch Khalil Herbert on the play, his chip block was absolutely awful. It didn't affect the outcome of the play thank goodness, but I really hoped that Herbert had worked on his pass blocking during the offseason.
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Again, this is only one play. We have to give Herbert more time to showcase what he is truly able to do. However, if he is one of the select starters to sit tonight, we aren't going to be able to see if anything has improved. It's hard to be a three-down back if you cannot block or catch the ball out of the backfield. This is going to truly limit his ability to remain on the field. Khalil Herbert might have the most "Juice" but the Chicago Bears need him to improve his pass-blocking immediately.