Chicago Bears: Keys to victory against Broncos

2. Establish the running game

Another problem with the Bears offense last week was the lack of commitment to the running game. The Bears ran the ball 15 times, however of those 15 called runs, two were for Cordarrelle Patterson and two were for Mitch Trubisky. That leaves a total of 11 carries between Mike Davis and David Montgomery. Tarik Cohen? He didn’t even get a chance to run with the ball as he was the team’s second biggest weapon in the passing game.

Despite just unleashing David Montgomery, establishing the running game has multiple advantages for the Bears. First, it’d take a tremendous amount of pressure off of Mitch Trubisky. While Trubisky has shown that he can win games for the Bears, he’s not the type of guy who can win a game when he’s throwing the ball 45 times a game.

The point being made here is this: Matt Nagy’s refusal to commit to the run game last week is a major reason the Bears lost. The Bears offense is at it’s best when Nagy is calling a balanced game where there’s a good amount of running and passing plays.

Last season, everytime the Bears won, the offense rushed for 80 or more yards. In week one, the Raiders consistently ran the ball against the Broncos and were able to score two rushing touchdowns as a result of it. In other words, Jon Gruden provided the Bears with a gameplan as to how to wear down the Broncos defense at any point in the game.