Bears tight end Cole Kmet pulled from the right side into the hole, blocking Rams outside linebacker Michael Hoecht to the ground just as running back D’Andre Swift took the fourth-quarter handoff Sunday.
Swift leapt over Hoecht, looked up and had one thought.
“Run,” he said.
Swift shuffled his feet at the 30-yard line and split a seam at the 25, moving right to left. Halfway between the left hash and the numbers painted on the Soldier Field turf, he sprinted straight ahead, untouched, and into the north end zone.
In that moment Sunday, Swift looked exactly like the running back the Bears committed $24 million over three years to in March. He hadn’t in the first three games, when he was, statistically, the worst starting running back in the NFL. Before Sunday’s 24-18 win, he averaged 1.8 yards per carry, the least in the NFL among rushers with at least eight carries. Sunday, he ran 16 times for 93 yards — an average of 5.8.
Put more simply: Swift’s touchdown run Sunday accounted for more rushing yards than he had in any of the Bears’ first three games.
Swift had vowed to be better. Sunday, he was.
“I know who I am,” he said. “I know what I can bring to this team. When we’re not having success, I take it upon myself to find ways that we can be better.”
So did the Bears’ leadership team — rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, receiver DJ Moore and tight ends Cole Kmet and Marcedes Lewis — which met with offensive coordinator Shane Waldron on Monday. They implored Waldron to coach them harder to increase accountability among the players.
“We’re in a business, so it has to be like that,” Swift said. “We have the mentality every single day of holding up your end of the bargain. You have to look yourself in the mirror and do that.”
On game day, they wanted Waldron to allow them to get in a rhythm. That’s what happened in the fourth quarter Sunday; Swift had carried the ball twice in the previous three plays before springing the 36-yard touchdown.
“That’s the juice, now,” receiver Rome Odunze said. “Especially in football when you’re moving the ball with bad intentions like that, violently, in the run game, and removing people from where they want to be. That’s always fun.”
Playing without guard Teven Jenkins for most of the game, the Bears’ maligned offensive line was physical. Backup running back Roschon Johnson had seven carries for 26 yards and a one-yard touchdown — crucial after the Bears’ botched short-yardage series in Week 3. Even Williams had a seven-yard carry.
“To get (Swift) going… it means everything for us,” left tackle Braxton Jones said. “Now it’s just building on that.”
Swift did it through the air, too, leading the Bears with seven catches, seven targets and 72 receiving yards. He was the first Bears player since Jeremy Langford in 2015 to have more than 70 rushing yards and 70 receiving yards in the same game. That was so long ago it was against the St. Louis Rams.
“Swift had a really nice game, so I was excited for him,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “He’s been working his tail off. He always stays positive. Again, that’s not just him. That’s the offensive line working the double-teams, make those holes in front of him. And then the perimeter blocking I thought was really good — much improved from the first couple weeks.”
That’s good news for the Bears, who finally got their money’s worth Sunday, and for Williams. It’s no coincidence that the best game of his young career came when the Bears ran the ball well for the first time.
“If you’ve got a successful running game,” Swift said, “it opens up everything.”