August 23, 2007
Bears confident their running game will soon pop
By Larry Mayer
LAKE FOREST, Ill. – The Bears running game hasn’t been very productive in preseason wins over the Texans and Colts, but coach Lovie Smith is confident that better times are ahead.
“It’s always a concern, but if my memory serves me right we were talking about the same thing last year, too,” he said. “Sometimes it takes a little while for your running game to come around.
Cedric Benson rushed for 24 yards on 10 carries in Monday night's preseason win over the Colts.
“We’ll have a good running game in time. We’ll keep working it. As much as anything, we’ll keep calling the runs and eventually we’ll get some production from it.”
While the Bears are averaging only 2.4 yards per carry on 53 rushes, their 125 yards on the ground are just two fewer than they compiled in their first two preseason games last summer.
Playing on just six possessions with the No. 1 offense against Houston and Indianapolis, Cedric Benson has gained 47 yards on 15 attempts, an average of 3.1 yards per carry.
“It’s still not in a groove,” Benson said of the running game. “[But] the more attempts we get, the better off we tend to do.”
That was evident last year when Benson and Thomas Jones combined to rush for 1,857 yards in the regular season after producing just 17 yards in the preseason.
As a team, the Bears ranked 15th in the NFL in rushing last year, averaging 119.9 yards per game.
Benson missed the entire preseason with a shoulder injury before gaining 647 yards in the regular season. Jones rushed for 1,210 yards after being limited to 17 yards on 10 carries in two preseason games after sitting out the first two exhibition contests with a hamstring injury.
“The running game takes a little time,” said left tackle John Tait. “It takes repetition and it takes a few games under your belt to get things going. I think everybody’s progressing nicely, though.”
“During the season, we’re going to make it happen,” added left guard Ruben Brown. “We’re going to keep running it and it’s going to break. In the preseason, you don’t have much time to set that tempo. You’ve got to try to run a bunch of different things that you’re working on, based on what [the defense is] giving you, and it might work and it might not.”
The preseason traditionally gives little indication of regular-season performance, something that Brown has learned while being voted to nine Pro Bowls in 12 NFL seasons.
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Bears confident their running game will soon pop - Chicago Bears
Bears confident their running game will soon pop
Bears confident their running game will soon pop
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