‘It’s no secret he loves to run the ball’: Chicago Bears looking for more explosive plays from ground game

The Chicago Bears have tried different formations and personnel groups since the start of training camp— typical at this time of year — but when it comes to offense, their fundamental philosophy isn’t likely to change.

“The run game is everything,” right guard Jonah Jackson said. “(If) you can’t run the ball efficiently and you’ve got to drop back, that’s kind of an O-lineman’s worst nightmare: to have to pass the ball more than run the ball.

“So being able to do what we do and set up the run game, it opens up everything — play action, drop back, screens. Everything.”

Last season’s 45.8% run rate ranked “only” ninth-highest — which may seem low to some only because of coach Ben Johnson’s reputation for the run dating to his days as Detroit Lions offensive coordinator.

But the Bears found themselves airing out the ball a lot based on game script, particularly during their league-leading seven comeback victories.

Johnson showed off his obsession with the run during the Week 13 upset of the Eagles in Philadelphia. Their 47 running plays were third-most in a game last season.

“It’s no secret he loves to run the ball, and … explosive plays,” running back Kyle Monangai said. “In that, there’s efficiency as well. There’s no ‘he’s hunting them’ or ‘every play is a big hitter.’ We know that’s not the nature of football and running the football well. …

“We’re going to rely on the guys up front, we’re going to follow their lead, and when (the big plays are) there we want to hit them.”

Despite what the balanced run rate would suggest, the Bears posted the fifth-most run plays (505) in the league. According to NFL Pro, the Bears’ 144.5 rushing yards per game ranked third, and their plus-0.04 expected-points-added per rush ranked fourth.

There are many perspectives on why Johnson’s running game works, but several essentially boil down to this: Johnson’s formations and presnap motions give defenses a lot of eye candy, keeps them guessing about the nature of the play and forces them to commit to gaps and coverages on the run.

The idea is to get them to guess wrong.

Looking through the eyes of his defensive coordinator, Dennis Allen, Johnson “does a good job of trying to create the formations and the angles in the blocking scheme to try to gain the advantage on the defense. And they do a good job of mixing in zone schemes with gap schemes and then their ability to give you the same look and then have play-action pass off of it.”

In essence, the Bears often got defenses to bite on the run or at least kept them honest. Their 191 play-action passes ranked second only to the Rams (215), with whom the Bears have a lot of offensive similarities.

Running back D’Andre Swift praised the creativity behind the blocking schemes.

“In a lot of ways because we can do the Y zone, we can run out the run duo, counters, a lot of stuff,” he said. “It’s a great system to be a part of. There’s a lot of opportunity out there.”

It’s an aggressive approach, a departure from adages such as “take what the defense gives you,” “run the clock” or — with apologies to the late, great Hank Stram — “matriculate down the field.”

“I don’t think Ben has ever mentioned the word ‘efficiency,’” offensive coordinator Press Taylor said. “We talk about ‘explosive.’ We are trying to attack a defense.

“There’s a perception of a lot of people, ‘We’re going to run the ball, we’re going to stay efficient and control the clock.’ We are looking to attack the defense. We are looking to attack fronts, to expose space, to create run lanes, to create explosives, and we don’t look at the run game as a way to stay on track. We look at the run game as a way to attack defenses and really be explosive and continue to just put our foot on the gas the entire game.”

Or as Monangai put it, “Our running game is not bland.”

But the sizzle is in the boring details.

“The minor details are the difference between winning or losing a play,” Monangai said. “We take a lot of time each day trying to master it so that when we go out there it’s flawless for us.”

Dynamic duo

So what can they do for a second act? To Monangai’s earlier point, continue to refine the details.

Swift, who led the Bears with a career-high 1,087 yards, said, “My speed is there, I’d say that. Just creating more space for myself. … It’s making the most out of when I do get space.”

Monangai said he looks at his self-scout “holistically.”

“What was I thinking on this play? What was I doing? Was I set right away? Was I taking too long? Was I thinking too much? That aspect of it,” he said. “Just building off the little things. … The major things we know, we see.

“If I had a dropped pass, obviously I have to catch the ball there. If I miss a read, I’ve got to make that read. If I fall and nobody was there to tackle, I’ve got to pick my feet up. Those things are obvious but the little details, that’s what I go back and watch.”

Taylor said Monangai was a prime example of a Bears rookie class that possessed a veteran’s sense of professionalism.

“Those guys kind of put their head down and went to work. That was Kyle from the jump,” he said. “He didn’t speak a whole lot, but he’s a guy that’s about the right stuff. …. He wants to know exactly how you want it done and then he can do it.”

Swift and Monangai are joined in camp by Roschon Johnson, Brittain Brown, Salvon Ahmed and Coleman Bennett. Johnson and Ahmed in particular have shown some pop.

Monangai lamented missing three days of camp because of a soft-tissue injury.

“I hate missing those few days because I hate (not) being out there with the guys,” he said. “So being back out here is great. So now just get better again, just sharpen iron.”

The ‘right’ brothers

But a lot of its punch came from a right hook: right guard Jonah Jackson and right tackle Darnell Wright.

Wright, a second-team All Pro last season, signed a four-year, $116 million contract extension Tuesday.

“They do a great job,” Monangai said. “When they have a deuce block and they’re moving a three-tech, it’s kind of (pretty) much over for that three-technique, whoever that is. … (It’s) the ease of mind that they’re going to move the guys in front of them.”

Left tackle was beleaguered by injuries and inconsistent play. That spot still has to be settled in camp.

“It’s no secret, we were in and out of left tackles a little bit last year, so things tended to move,” Taylor said. “And when we needed a certain situation or we needed a yard here or there, then we’re probably going to find a way to get behind Darnell (and) Jonah and feature those guys a little bit.”

Wright credited Ben Johnson with giving offensive linemen designed plays like a skill player.

“He premieres you in plays,” he said. “When he first got here, he instilled the confidence into me that I was going to be a part of the offense. I’ve never had a coach really come up to me and be like, ‘We’re depending on you.’ Obviously you do your job, but ‘We’re depending on you to complete this play, and this is pretty much your play.’ …

“To see a coach come in, a coach like Ben Johnson, and he has that confidence in you already, it gives you a little bit of confidence in yourself and encourages you to go out there and (be) good for the team.”

New coach, same energy?

Much of the personnel is similar, from the offensive line to the backfield, but there’s one huge difference on staff.

Running backs coach Eric Bieniemy, whom both Swift and Monangai swore by, returned to the Chiefs as offensive coordinator.

Being a stickler for “4½ yards” per carry “was more so an EB thing,” Swift said, but “that’s something that will stick with me.”

Monangai also cherished his relationship with Bieniemy but has been building a new one with Eric Studesville, who spent the previous eight seasons with the Dolphins, last serving as associate head coach/running backs coach.

“Taught me a lot, and we all have a good relationship in the room, just building off each other, helping each other get better,” Monangai said. “We’re all competitors in that room, and Coach E loves that stuff, so he urges that energy in the room and the practice field.”