There were several issues with the Bears offense last season, including the run game, which was a detriment to a balanced offensive attack.
When it comes to dissecting what exactly went wrong with the Chicago Bears offense last season, you can’t pinpoint just one thing. Erratic quarterback play, an ineffective offensive line and inconsistent play calling were all contributing factors. But another was the struggles of the run game, which was a detriment to achieving a balanced offensive attack.
Rookie running back David Montgomery struggled to establish a rhythm behind a struggling offensive line and with a play-caller with no affinity for the run game. Montgomery had more than 20 rushing attempts in just four games, and there were seven games where he had less than 15 carries.
But in three of those games where he had more than 20 rushing attempts, the Bears won. The other game — against the Los Angeles Chargers — should’ve been a victory if Eddy Pineiro had connected on a 41-yard field goal in the closing seconds. Simply put, when the Bears had a heavy dose of the run game, they were able to turn those games into wins. Which made it even more puzzling as to why Nagy tended to abandon the run game early in games.
Fast forward this offseason, where head coach Matt Nagy brought in four new offensive coaches, including those with experience with the run game or offensive line — offensive coordinator Bill Lazor, offensive line coach Juan Castillo and tight ends coach Clancy Barone.
Lazor and Castillo have already been working on figuring out ways to open the run game up for Montgomery this season.
“Juan and I have had conversations already about the formations we would like to use in the run game for our opening game of the season,” Lazor said, via SI.com. “It’s our job, when your title is coordinator, you have to make sure it all fits.
“You have to make sure the run game, the pass game, the play-action, the drop-backs, the screens, they all fit.”
Someone else that knows something about blocking is tight ends coach Clancy Barone, who has also served as an offensive line coach during his coaching career.
“Here, we have a tight ends coach who’s not only been―in Clancy Barone, a very accomplished tight ends coach―who’s also been an offensive line coach,” Lazor said. “So, as you look at the whole picture of staff, how if your line coach takes the lead in the run game, how can you support them? The more you have guys like Clancy who have done the job and understand the job, to be able to support them, well that affects the role I have to take.”
Running backs coach Charles London described it as a committee approach, where everyone’s collaborating and looking to improve the run game as a whole.
“We’ll collaborate as we do in every phase of our game plan, whether it’s the run game, the pass game, protections,” London said. “It’s a collaboration there and I think that regardless of what the scheme is, it’s all about us.
“As an offense we didn’t really pull our weight last year and I know the guys are itching to get there and want to put a better foot forward.”
While Montgomery had a solid rookie season — 889 rushing yards, averaging 3.7 yards per carry and six touchdowns — we still haven’t seen everything that he can do. But Montgomery is confident that will change this season, and the run game as a whole will be better in 2020.
“It’s going to be better this year,” Montgomery said. “I’m going to be better this year for this team and this organization. I’m going to come as prepared as ever to lead that running back room the way I need to — and be who I need to be for this offense and this team.”
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