The Chicago Bears miraculously find themselves in the divisional round of the playoffs after a stunning comeback win over the Green Bay Packers in Saturday night's wild-card game. It was the latest second-half comeback and game-winning drive from quarterback Caleb Williams, but another lackluster performance from the rushing attack is definitely concerning, especially heading into Sunday's matchup against a Los Angeles Rams defense that just held the Carolina Panthers to 83 rushing yards total in their wild-card win.
Up until Saturday's subpar rushing performance with just 93 combined yards between the duo of D'Andre Swift and rookie Kyle Monangai, the Bears have been one of the most efficient teams in the league running the ball, averaging the third-most yards per game (141.3 YPG). However, as 247 Sports' Zack Pearson noted on Wednesday, head coach Ben Johnson said he feels Chicago's run game has "dipped" a little bit the past few games.
Monangai, the seventh-round pick in the 2025 NFL draft, has looked like one of the biggest steals in the draft for most of the season, but he seems to have hit a wall at the worst possible time after struggling over the course of the final month of the regular season and into the playoffs.
Ben Johnson's Latest Remarks Could Spark a Turnaround for Kyle Monangai
Since Monangai had 22 carries for 130 yards and a touchdown in a win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Black Friday, the stout Bears ground attack has not produced a 100-yard rusher in each of its last six games. It's fair to say the run game has not been as strong as it was earlier this season. However, with the pressure and difficulty magnified in the postseason, an underwhelming wild-card performance should not be a total surprise, especially against a Packers team the Bears were facing for a third time in just five weeks.
It may have been a slow start to Monangai's rookie season in his first five games, but after producing 81 rush yards and a TD in Week 7, he started to become a reliable option for Chicago as someone it could turn to to spare the workload from Swift. Monangai went for a career-high 176 yards two weeks later before tacking on his second 100-yard outing (130) against the Eagles.
Since then, however, he has failed to rush for more than 57 yards with zero TDs and an average of 3.4 yards per carry or less in three of those six games. That is not to say that the decreased rushing production is entirely on Monangai, but Swift did average 4.2 yards on 13 carries in the win over the Packers, so he was certainly the more dependable back of the two in the postseason opener.
With that said, Monangai has proven he can provide a solid one-two punch with Swift. Maybe that comes with Johnson designing different run plays and giving opposing defenses different looks, or simply increasing Monangai's carries after he only had eight in the wild-card win.
Either way, Rams head coach Sean McVay will definitely have a game plan in place to prepare for anything that comes his way. Perhaps Johnson's remarks will be enough to get Monangai back on track and return to his early-season form, regardless of what McVay draws up.