It seems like an awfully long time ago that Chicago Bears fans were clamoring for general manager Ryan Poles to upgrade the team’s running back depth chart during the 2025 NFL offseason.
Chatter about the Bears using their first-round pick on running back Ashton Jeanty, or finding a way to snag TreVeyon Henderson in the second round, dominated the conversation.
All the while, veteran D’Andre Swift, who signed a lucrative three-year, $24 million contract a year earlier, remained the RB1 and received his fair share of votes of confidence from coach Ben Johnson.
That confidence was well-placed.
As the Bears enter Week 15’s matchup against the Cleveland Browns, Swift is having arguably the best season of his career. He’s totaled 173 carries for 837 yards and five touchdowns. Most importantly, he’s gaining 4.8 yards per carry, up one full yard from his disappointing 2024 debut in Chicago (3.8 yards per carry).
Perhaps the most shocking development from Swift’s 2025 campaign is the national respect he’s beginning to get.
NFL Network’s Maurice Jones-Drew recently published his top-15 running backs entering the final stretch of the 2025 season, and Swift made the cut at No. 14.
Shockingly, he was ranked one spot ahead of Philadelphia Eagles star Saquon Barkley.
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“The Bears have gone from zero to hero in one season, thanks to Ben Johnson and his willingness to pound the rock to control the clock,” Jones-Drew wrote. “Swift is on pace to earn his second 1,000-yard rushing campaign; he’s also having his most efficient season since 2022, when he was last with Johnson in Detroit. The veteran back has had to share the load with rookie Kyle Monangai, but I like what I’m seeing from this physical duo.”
Monangai’s emergence from seventh-round afterthought to one of the best rookie running backs in the NFL has certainly helped Swift’s cause. Competition breeds success, and the Bears’ running back room is a perfect example of it.
Swift is also running with fresher legs than in 2024 because of the carries Monangai is handling. It’s all added up to Swift becoming a critical piece of the Chicago Bears’ 2025 sprint for the postseason.
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