How the Bears can spark run game

For the Bears, Step One in their recovery program is admitting they have a problem running the football.

They've rushed for more than 86 yards just once in five games, so that qualifies as a serious problem in the National Football League.

Step Two, of course, is doing something about it - starting right now. Here are four options that head coach Lovie Smith and his staff should consider before the playoffs are out of reach:

1. Bring back Beekman: For openers, Josh Beekman deserves a chance at left guard, where he started all 16 games least season. Free-agent Frank Omiyale, a seldom-used backup tackle for his first four NFL seasons in Atlanta and Carolina, was essentially given Beekman's spot in training camp despite hardly any experience at the position.

That's not to single out Omiyale for the failures of the run game. Not one of the Bears' offensive linemen has played well, and running back Matt Forte hasn't looked as quick, fast or elusive as he did a year ago.

But Omiyale is playing out of position, and Beekman would cause the least disruption to a unit that must perform cohesively to be effective. Beekman played next to center Olin Kreutz all of last season, so the transition would be fairly seamless.

2. Shake up Williams: The remaking of the O-line doesn't have to stop there. Chris Williams, the 2008 first-round draft pick, has yet to play like one.

Not to say that he won't be a good player some day, but backup Kevin Shaffer, another off-season free-agent signing, is a good player right now. He started 31 games at right tackle for the Browns the past two years, and 47 games at left tackle the previous three years for the Browns and Falcons.

Shaffer is not an elite pass protector, but he is a big, powerful run blocker with the size (6-foot-5, 318 pounds) and strength to be a force in the run game. He isn't on the roster for window dressing or insurance, he's there to step in and start when there are problems, and there are.

3. Run by committee: Whether Matt Forte has become tentative or is less than 100 percent physically, it doesn't hurt to utilize other options, even if Forte remains the go-to guy, which he should.

Garrett Wolfe showed the quickness, agility and elusiveness on his first carry against the Atlanta Falcons that Forte's game has been missing most of the season.

That carry by Wolfe picked up 12 yards, which is a longer run than Forte has had in four of five games this season. He has had only 14 carries this season, but Wolfe is averaging 4.3 yards per carry, compared to Forte's 3.4.

And, if Adrian Peterson is back from his sprained knee, he should also be incorporated into the run game this week. His 5.6-yard average is meaningless on just 5 carries, but Peterson gets everything he can from every carry and, like Wolfe, he's a good receiver.

There's nothing wrong with a running attack by committee. Very few teams depend as heavily on one runner as the Bears did on Forte last year.

4. Don't abandon it: Finally, the Bears need to remember that all teams tend to execute things better the more often they do them.

Only once have the Bears run the ball as many as 30 times in a game this year, and they've run fewer than 25 times in three games. That's not enough reps for the run game to improve, and it's not enough to get opposing defenses to respect the ground game, which in the long run will adversely affect the air attack.

It's tempting when you have a quarterback as talented as Jay Cutler to forget about the run, but that's not the best route to the postseason.

Ask last year's Denver Broncos.