The arrival of Ben Johnson as the new head coach of the Chicago Bears was supposed to signal a true change for the franchise as a whole. Through four weeks, their record is the exact same as last year, at 2-2.
However, the team looks significantly better as a whole, with the offense showing spurts of true greatness, ala the game against the Dallas Cowboys. Some of that has been on their potential franchise quarterback Caleb Williams, and some of it has fallen on the weapons around him.
Most notably, the ground game for the Bears has been underwhelming to say the least. Both D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai haven’t found the explosion that most people were expecting after seeing the success Johnson had with the Detroit Lions, but there is a pathway for improvement. For one analyst, that means that an uber-aggressive Chicago management takes another swing, this time to add a true difference maker at the running back spot.
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Could a Running Back Solve Caleb Williams and the Bears’ Woes?
Inconsistency has plagued the Bears from the start of the season. A brilliant first three quarters vanished in a matter of moments as the Minnesota Vikings had a historic comeback in Week 1.
Week 2 was an outright effort as they got blown out by the Detroit Lions. However, the team bounced back perfectly with a blowout of their own against the Cowboys in Week 3. Before the bye, an ugly game against the Las Vegas Raiders ultimately resulted in a win.
From the record perspective, the team went into the bye week with some momentum from two consecutive victories. But Johnson needs more than momentum to figure out the struggles of the offense.
Currently ranked 21st on PFSN’s Offense Impact, a major component of their struggles has been the ground game, as Williams has held up his end of the bargain, ranking 15th on the corresponding QB Impact.
On the other hand, Swift has fared much worse, ranking 28th on the RB Impact, with Monangai not landing in the top 44 names who qualified for the list. That kind of production is hampering Williams, as well as the offense as a whole.
The best-case scenario for Chicago would be to hope that Swift can find his form from the last two seasons again, as Johnson cooks up some creative plays. But, a more immediately impactful idea could be a trade.
Josh Well of PFSN in his list of trade targets for every team in the league believes De’Von Achane would be the perfect candidate for the Bears to go after, believing sophomore Roschon Johnson could be the trade chip, along with a second-round and fourth-round pick.
Coming to the league as a third-round pick in 2023 himself, Achane has solidified himself as a true dual-threat from the backfield. Through 33 games in his career, he is closing in on 2,000 rushing yards, 1,000 receiving yards, and has 27 total touchdowns to his credit.
A major step up from Swift, Achane ranks 12th on RBi, with Well detailing what makes him an exceptionally valuable asset. “He has an outstandingly low cap hit of $1.73 million next season and will be eligible for an extension beyond that this season.”
For this team, in particulary, though, the reasoning is simple. Getting “this Swiss army knife who makes everyone around him’s job easier, and take the next step as an offense.”
A duo of Achane and Swift would have the chance to find some of the success Johnson had with the Jahmyr Gibbs – David Montgomery duo in Detroit. And it should give Williams another threat to potentially expand the offense even more.