With the game on the line, Ben Johnson trusted his running game.
After Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels and running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt botched a handoff late in Monday night’s game for a turnover, Johnson put the ball in the hands of D’Andre Swift.
“Putting it away, just putting it away — that was my mindset,” Swift said after the game.
Johnson called five runs for Swift on the ensuing eight plays (one of those was a QB kneel). A 15-yard scamper from Swift on second-and-12 from the 33-yard line all but iced the game. Kicker Jake Moody made a 38-yard field goal to win the game as time expired.
The Bears ran for a season-high 145 yards. Swift totaled a season-best 108 yards on 14 carries.
As a team, the Bears hadn’t reached 100 rushing yards in either of their previous two games, and Swift hadn’t totaled more than 63 in a game this season.
Did Monday’s win signal a breakthrough? Or will this be a one-game blip? Here’s a look at why this could have staying power.
1. A focus on the basics.
For the Bears, the rushing success in Week 6 was proof of concept. Ask anybody on the offensive line why the running game was off before the Commanders game and the first thing they pointed to was the fundamentals.
Bears center Drew Dalman (52) and guard Jonah Jackson (73) head to the sideline with quarterback Caleb Williams, center, after Williams scored a rushing touchdown in the second quarter against the Commanders at Northwest Stadium on Oct. 13, 2025, in Landover, Md. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
“It’s tough because it’s never any one issue,” center Drew Dalman told the Tribune. “I feel like football is often like that. So I feel like it’d be closer to say we need to be 10% better at everything in the run game.”
“Fundamentals,” left tackle Theo Benedet added. “Fundamentals, footwork, pad level, hand placement. It’s all those things. We see that kind of rearing its head on film and we’re frustrated about it as players because (offensive line coach Dan) Roushar and Coach Johnson do such a good job of hammering that into us every day.”
All that hammering finally paid off.
Johnson’s offenses in Detroit evolved into one of the league’s best rushing attacks, but this was always going to be a work in progress in Year 1 in Chicago. Johnson takes a lot of pride in the running game. Fans think of trick plays when they think of Johnson’s offense, and those are fun, but it always has been built on good, old-fashioned power football.
“I take it personally, because I actually spend more time on the run game than I do on the passing game,” Johnson said. “And not only trying to create explosives in the running game, but being sound and taking a lot of pride in our execution of the fundamentals.”
The Bears had five runs of 10 yards or more Monday, their most this season if you throw out several garbage-time runs during a 52-21 blowout in Detroit in Week 2.
Monday’s fourth quarter wasn’t the first time Johnson leaned on his running game in a big moment. During a Week 3 win over the Dallas Cowboys, the Bears ran the ball 11 consecutive times during a nearly 10-minute drive that all but sealed the victory.
Looking forward, the Bears have an opportunity over the next month to keep this rolling. With the Saints, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings upcoming, all of those defenses except for the Saints rank in the bottom third of the league against the run; New Orleans ranks 16th at 114 yards per game.
There’s a chance to establish an identity.
2. A lineup change.
Bears quarterback Caleb Williams takes the snap between left guard Joe Thuney (62) and left tackle Theo Benedet in the third quarter against the Commanders at Northwest Stadium on Oct. 13, 2025, in Landover, Md. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
This is a Bears offensive line that largely never had played together. The Bears invested heavily in the interior, adding Dalman in free agency and trading for guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson.
Even with veterans, a new line takes time to jell. As in months, not weeks.
“It’s been part of our approach that we are going to be a team that can run the ball effectively,” Dalman said. “It’s just one more step on a much longer journey that we started in April.”
Johnson brought in Roushar to run the O-line. Roushar, like defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, spent years working for Sean Payton in New Orleans. Roushar coached a Saints offensive line that produced four Pro Bowl selections in 2018, plus three more and an All-Pro in 2019. Those teams both went 13-3.
When Roushar looked at the Bears rushing attack through four games, he saw an offensive line that was inconsistent but showed flashes of what it could be.
“When you saw the good things, you’re like, ‘That’s how we should do it, do it more consistently,’” Roushar said. “When we’re not doing it that way, there’s a lot of different reasons for it, but it really comes back to detail.”
Bears left tackle Theo Benedet (79) and the offensive line work to protect quarterback Caleb Williams (18) in the third quarter against the Commanders on Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
The Bears made a lineup change during the Week 4 win over the Las Vegas Raiders, benching left tackle Braxton Jones in favor of Benedet. They elected to stick with Benedet after the Week 5 bye.
The Bears like the athleticism Benedet and right tackle Darnell Wright show when they have opportunities to block in space.
“He’s got good feet,” Roushar said of Benedet. “There’s a quickness about him. There’s a recoverability about him. And he changes direction pretty well.”
Benedet was overlooked as the Bears embarked on their position battle during training camp in July. He was penciled in as the fourth option at left tackle behind Jones, Ozzy Trapilo and Kiran Amegadjie.
Just a couple of months later, he appears poised to take the job and run with it. After watching Benedet in his first start at left tackle Monday, Johnson was impressed by the things he didn’t see.
“The biggest compliment I could probably give him last week is I didn’t feel him out there,” Johnson said. “Which, as a play caller, that’s what you’re normally doing: ‘Hey, why’s a play breaking down?’ And if it’s a particular person, you’re looking to help him out somehow, some way, and I never felt that with him last week.”
According to ESPN Analytics’ “win rate” metric, Benedet has the second-best run-blocking win rate in the NFL among offensive tackles, winning those matchups 85% of the time. He has played only six full quarters of NFL football, so it’s a small sample size.
But it’s certainly a promising start.
3. An uptick in efficiency at running back.
Bears running back D’Andre Swift runs past Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu in the first quarter on Oct. 13, 2025, at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Monday’s win included a better effort from the running backs too. Swift had his best game from a traditional statistics standpoint, and the underlying metrics point to some positive trends.
Swift had his most efficient game of the season. Per NFL Next Gen Stats’ efficiency rating, it was his most efficient effort since he joined the Bears ahead of the 2024 season. Next Gen Stats’ efficiency metric measures the yards a ball carrier traveled (including laterally) and divides it by yards gained. The more north to south the runner is, the lower the efficiency number.
Swift’s 2.76 efficiency metric in Week 6 was his best single-game effort since he was a member of the Eagles. That number doesn’t even reflect his best play of the day, a 55-yard touchdown, which was a reception, not a rushing attempt.
It’s also a drastic improvement from the Raiders game, when his 6.3 efficiency ranked dead last among 33 running backs with at least 10 carries in Week 4. On the season, Swift’s efficiency ranks 31st out of 41 qualified RBs.
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Much like the offensive line, running backs coach Eric Bieniemy has been harping on the fundamentals with his group.
“First of all, it’s not just necessarily (Swift),” Bieniemy said. “I’m talking all the backs. Because everything starts with our alignment. We’ve got to make sure that we’re aligned correctly. On top of that we’ve got to make sure we have the proper footwork and understand exactly what’s going on with the read and the intent of the play. The next thing is just making sure when we’re given an opportunity, execute the play. Bottom line is to find 4½ yards.”
Swift found 7.7 yards per carry Monday, his best average since joining the Bears.
“It felt good, especially when the guys up front have been doing what they’ve been doing, especially as well as the guys on the (blocking) outside, perimeter, too,” Swift said. “They did a hell of a job blocking on the perimeter. When it’s clicking like that, it’s good.”
The challenge will be keeping it going in the coming weeks. As the saying goes, an effective running game is a quarterback’s best friend.
If the running game is working, it will take pressure off Caleb Williams. Monday was one good game. It’s something to build on, but it’s not a finished product.
“I don’t think there’s ever like a critical threshold that we hit where we’re like, ‘OK, now it’s good, now we’ll never make a mistake again,’” Dalman said. “You’re always constantly tested by new looks, new defenses, better players, that kind of thing. So we’re better, more cohesive now than we were five weeks ago and we’ll continue to hopefully be better five weeks from now.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/18/chicago-bears-run-game-dandre-swift/
