The Chicago Bears walked away from Week 4 with a decisive victory over the New York Jets, running the ball with so much emphasis that the Jets didn't have an answer for it. Chicago ran 89 total plays and held the ball for almost 43 minutes. Penalties destroyed the Jets, getting flagged 12 times for a whopping 76 yards. When you put that together with five punts, and only 17 minutes of offense, the Jets were strangled.
The Bears strangled the Jets with 54 carries and did not punt once
During that time, the Bears didn't punt a single time. It was the first time that the Bears finished a game without a punt since 2014, when the Packers and Bears completed only the second game in NFL history where neither side was forced to punt.
Chicago dominated offensively, posting almost 500 yards of total offense, while the Jets barely cleared 150 yards. Through four weeks in the season, the Bears boast the top rushing offense in football, averaging 196.3 yards per game.
The run game has been the choke hold for Ben Johnson's offense, totaling 785 yards on 159 rush attempts on the season. That's twenty more rush attempts than any other team in football.
It helps when you're handing the ball to the likes of Kyle Monangai, who added 146 yards to his season total of 324. The Jet's couldn't stop him, and as a result, he compiled 30 carries, averaging 4.9 yards per carry. D'Andre Swift carried 15 times himself, Roschon Johnson took the ball four times, and even Luther Burden made a surprise rushing appearance. In total the Bears ran the ball 54 of their 89 plays, strangling the Jets out of the game.
This isn't the first time.
The Bears have displayed this pattern across the whole season. Chicago has won the time of possession battle at every stop, using their superior rushing game to their advantage. Even during their Week 2 loss at the hands of the Minnesota Vikings, the Bears ran almost twenty more offensive plays.
Looking ahead, the Bears are headed to Lambeau Field for Week 5, where they'll face off with a Packers team in distress. Through four weeks, the Packers have posted the worst rushing game in the NFL, totaling only 232 yards on the ground. That's an average of only 58 yards per game.
The Bears have been smart to lean on their run game when it's so obviously working, and the game plan doesn't change when it comes to Green Bay. Who needs a star quarterback when the run game has been winning anyway?
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