Bears running back D’Andre Swift holding himself to a higher standard this season

D’Andre Swift‘s first season with the Bears didn’t go exactly the way he wanted last year.

Swift accumulated some of the better statistics in his career after he signed a three-year $24.5 million contract with the team in 2024. But in his mind, Swift felt he didn’t do enough to come out ahead in many games.

“I don’t think I produced enough to contribute to more wins, obviously,” Swift told reporters Thursday after the second practice of training camp at Halas Hall in Lake Forest. “Lot of stuff I feel like I can get better at, just looking back and overall improvement, just excited for a new opportunity and new year.”

There was good and bad in Swift’s first year with the Bears. He rushed for 959 yards, the second most in his career, on a career-high 253 attempts.

But Swift averaged a career-low 3.8 yards a rush for a running attack that finished 25th in the league with 1,734 rushing yards. The offensive line struggled to create many holes last season. When it did, Swift couldn’t consistently find open holes.

Despite the struggles, Swift said he wasn’t more motivated to work harder over the offseason.

“I didn’t produce like I wanted to, but I’m not going to work harder because of that, I already work hard,” Swift said. “That’s just how I am and how I’ve always been. I just have the same mindset with how I work.”

Although Swift might say he’s not more motivated, Bears head coach Ben Johnson has noticed a motivated player in his reunion with the running back. Johnson was Swift’s offensive coordinator with the Detroit Lions in 2022 before the team traded Swift to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Johnson called Swift a quiet player Thursday when asked about how he’s different from his time in Detroit. But Johnson also said Swift’s highly motivated to reverse what went wrong last year.

“He’s not happy with how last year went for him production-wise, team-wise, everything-wise,” Johnson said. “He’s really motivated. He’s really excited to help lead and spur this team forward. I don’t think I see a whole lot of differences from where he’s been, but I see a very hungry individual.”

Johnson and Swift will need to wait a little longer to see that hunger satisfied. Both said they’ll truly know what the running attack has behind a new offensive line once the pads come on later in training camp.

There was speculation the Bears would add another running back to the room to boost production. But Swift wasn’t worried about that. He’s ready to show that he can perform at a more efficient rate.

“Whatever the outside perception is what it is,” Swift said. “All we can do is come in here every single day and work. Whatever they’re saying is what they’re saying. We can’t go back and forth with the media. We’re never going to win that battle. Just excited to put the work in every single day and see what the product will look like when we get going.”

Clearing the record:

Johnson wanted to set the record straight Thursday. Although it seemed like he threw the first-team offense off the field Wednesday, that wasn’t the case.

“We’re on a time crunch as you guys all know,” Johnson said. “We got 90 minutes there that first day. We’re up to 105 here today. So just need to keep things moving on along there or else other guys weren’t going to be able to get their reps. But the point is, though, we got to be on our Ps and our Qs and every minute, every rep is really valuable as well.”

Despite how much attention it received, Johnson didn’t have a problem with the way the moment was presented by reporters. He called it an issue everyone in the first-team offense had with getting in and out of the huddle.

“We’re learning, we’re growing,” Johnson said. “You know, there was some things from the springtime expected to carry over. That was probably one. We just don’t have any tolerance for it anymore. We got too far to go.”

Practice notes:

The shuffling continued at various position battles during the second practice of training camp. Kiran Amegadjie took snaps with the first team at left tackle, while quarterback Tyson Bagent worked with the second-team offense.

Linebacker Noah Sewell worked as the third linebacker with the first-team defense for a second straight day.

The struggles continued for a second straight day for the first-team offense. A few of quarterback Caleb Williams’ throws were off target though there were fewer issues with lining up at the line of scrimmage.

“They know it’s not good enough,” Johnson said about the offensive struggles before practice. “So it’s just keep the train moving.”

Rookie running back Kyle Monangai had a nice play when he rushed for a long run off a juke.

Taking attendance:

Johnson provided some clarity with some of the Bears’ absences before Thursday’s practice.

Rookie wide receiver Luther Burden III continued to miss practice with what Johnson called a soft-tissue injury. Burden, whom the Bears selected in the second round of this year’s draft, hasn’t practiced since rookie minicamp at the beginning of May.

Johnson said he’s hoping Burden can come back in the next few days.

“Everything that our training staff is telling us we can do physically with him, we’re utilizing,” Johnson said. “I know [wide receivers coach Antwaan] Randle El has been all over him in meetings, keeping him involved, he’s being quizzed. Non stop, our quarterbacks are taking him to the side whether it’s walk-throughs on their own. So he’s utilizing that time as much as he can but there’s really no substitute for full-speed reps and so the sooner we get him out there, the quicker he can carve a role for himself.”

Rookie defensive tackle Shemar Turner missed practice Thursday with an ankle injury he suffered during Wednesday’s practice. Johnson wasn’t sure of the severity of the injury when he spoke with reporters before Thursday’s practice.

Rookie cornerback Zah Frazier also missed his second straight practice for what Johnson called a personal reason.

The Bears also re-signed safety Alex Cook on Thursday after releasing him Tuesday.