Chicago Bears: 3 reasons Pat Shurmur should be next OC
By Ryan Heckman
1. History of strong running game
The first reason Shurmur makes sense in Chicago is easy — it’s all about the run game. If the Bears truly are going to roll out with Mitchell Trubisky as their starting quarterback in 2020, they are going to need to re-commit to the run game in order to help alleviate some of the pressure on their mediocre gun slinger.
Shurmur has a history of solid rushing attacks. Going back to his tenure with the Philadelphia Eagles, he was the offensive coordinator under Andy Reid back in 2013 when LeSean McCoy finished as a First Team All Pro selection. McCoy rushed for 1,607 yards that season while finishing with over 2,100 total yards from scrimmage.
In 2017, Shurmur was the offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings. That year, Shurmur thought he was going to see an electrifying rookie, Dalvin Cook, take the league by storm. It started promising, with Cook rushing for 354 yards in three and a half games. Then, Cook suffered a season-ending injury.
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No problem, though, because Latavius Murray and Jerrick McKinnon picked up the slack. The Vikings finished the season averaging over 122 rushing yards per game under Shurmur, even without Cook for the majority of the year.
The Bears need to fix the offensive line and re-commit to pounding the rock with David Montgomery. I don’t think we quite saw the real Montgomery in his rookie campaign, partly due to poor offensive line play and also due to the inability of Trubisky to open up the offense a whole lot. Shurmur’s run-first mentality would certainly fit with where the Bears should be heading.