Cohen continues to come up big for Chicago Bears

There's no mystery as to why the Chicago Bears have managed to score an average of 33 points over their last four games despite some inconsistencies on offense.

A groin injury has limited wide receiver Allen Robinson to 1 catch for 4 yards over the last two games. Quarterback Mitch Trubisky occasionally has struggled with a lack of accuracy. Sandwiched around tight end Trey Burton's career-best performance in Week 7 was a 4-catch, 23-yard effort a week earlier and a 3-catch, 18-yard game a week later.

But the Bears have enough big-play makers on offense to offset occasional subpar performances by other players, and the best example is Tarik Cohen. The 5-foot-6 running back only caught 1 pass last week, but it went for a 70-yard touchdown, his fourth of the season to tie him with Burton for the team lead.

Cohen's longest career reception also was the longest passing touchdown by a Bears quarterback since Jay Cutler threw an 83-yard TD pass to Jeremy Langford in Week 10 of the 2015 season.

"It just shows how many people we have in this offense that can make a play," said Cohen, who also contributed 40 rushing yards on just 5 carries (8.0-yard average) vs. the New York Jets. "The same person isn't always going to perform at his best, so then the ball can be spread around and (other) players make plays when their name is called."

Cohen's catch-and-run against the Jets vaulted him to the top of the Bears' list in receiving yards with 398, and his 13.3-yard average is second on the team to Kevin White's 23.3-yard average on 3 receptions. It was Cohen's fifth catch of more than 25 yards this season, but he spread the credit around on the perfectly executed screen pass.

"The coaches called a great play into blitz, (cover) zero," Cohen said. "The guy who had me blitzed, and I bluffed him a little, and that was the last guy. Then Taylor Gabriel made that final block."

As impressive as Cohen's rookie season was, especially for a fourth-round pick out of North Carolina A&T, he's well on his way to blowing past the numbers he put up last year.

He already has surpassed last year's 353 receiving yards and is averaging 5.2 yards per carry, almost a yard better than last year's 4.3. He's also seventh in the NFL with an 11.7-yard punt-return average.

"I'm loving it," he said. "I get to touch the ball a lot more, a lot more often than last year, (and) more consistently than last year."

Cohen's 110 yards from scrimmage Sunday marked the third time in the past four games that he has topped 100 yards, something he accomplished twice last year. He had a 174-yard performance against Tampa Bay on Sept. 30 that included a career-best 121 receiving yards on 7 catches, and a 121-yard day at Miami on Oct. 14.

One thing Cohen hasn't done this year that he did as a rookie is throw a touchdown pass, but that remains a possibility.

He connected with tight end Zach Miller last year on a perfectly placed 21-yard scoring toss in a 27-24 overtime victory at Baltimore in Week 6, making him the shortest NFL player since 1934 to throw a TD pass.

But Bears coach Matt Nagy was with the Kansas City Chiefs last year, so Cohen was asked if his offensive playcaller knows about his passing prowess.

"Oh, yeah, he knows," Cohen said. "We throw it all the time at practice. He still has an arm himself."

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