RB Nall knows he did all he could to try to make Bears roster

Whether or not he's still a Bear by 3 p.m. Saturday, undrafted running back Ryan Nall will have no regrets.

He capped an exceptional preseason with 79 rushing yards on just 4 carries in Thursday night's preseason finale, which gave him a total of 223 yards on 32 attempts for a 7.0-yard average. But it remains to be seen if he did enough to earn a spot at a deep and talented position.

"This has been my dream since I was a kid, to play in the NFL," the 6-foot-2, 232-pound Oregon State product said. "And coach (Matt Nagy) said it multiple times, 'Leave everything you have on the field. Have no regrets.' So coming into (Saturday's) game, I wanted to make sure that I had none. I think that the playing time that I did get, the special teams, (and) on offense, I left everything out there. At the end of the day, it's in their control, and I'm just going to stay positive and hope for the best."

The Bears' RB room currently includes powerful workhorse Jordan Howard and versatile big-play threat Tarik Cohen, along with veterans Benny Cunningham and Knile Davis, along with Taquan Mizzell. They used just three running backs last year, four if you include FB Michael Burton, who's also in the running, and it's doubtful they'd keep more than four this year.

Despite rushing for 2,216 yards at Oregon State and averaging a school-record-tying 5.8 yards per carry, Nall went undrafted, partly because he was seen a player who lacked great speed and elusiveness as a running back and did not have enough size and blocking ability as a fullback. He signed with the Bears because he was convinced they'd give him a chance to run the ball. So what did he want to prove in the preseason?

"Exactly that, that I can run the ball; that I am explosive, that I can make somebody miss in the open field," Nall said. "I set my goals as a running back to show them that I could be effective in this offense, and throughout this preseason, I think that I've done a pretty good job of that."

Now it comes down to a numbers game, and Nall's performance has given him a shot, but he knows it's not a sure thing.

"The positive side of me thinks I'm going to make the team," he said, "and the realistic side knows that there's a chance that I might not. So if that does occur, I'm going to stay positive and see what else is out there. Hopefully my agent will be able to make contacts, and the coaching staff said, 'If we don't make this team, they want us to make someone else's team,' so I'm just going to stay positive and keep moving in the right direction."

But how does one stay positive with his future hanging in the balance?

"Play a lot of video games," Nall said, laughing. "Go back with the film, maybe look at some highlights, (and tell myself) 'I'm a good player, I'm a good player.' Just try to relax. I've never been in this position before, so I don't know what it's going to be like.

"I'm planning on being optimistic, so I'm just going to try to relax and get my body healthy. Just continue to recuperate and get back to 100 percent because it's been a long five weeks, a long five preseason games, and there's what, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 more weeks?"

For the lucky ones, there are.

• Bob LeGere is a senior writer at Pro Football Weekly. Follow Bob's Bears reports on Twitter @BobLeGere or @PFWeekly.