Chicago Bears must use Matt Forte more
By Evan Massey
The Chicago Bears have been an incredibly inconsistent team this season, but are currently sitting at 2-2 in the NFC North. There has been some inconsistency on the offensive side of the football, but part of that has to do with the lack of carries for running back Matt Forte. He is one of the best backs in the NFL, but the Bears continue to ignore him to pass the football.
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Forte came through with a big game against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, but the Bears lost the game due to turnovers made by Jay Cutler through the air. Chicago has to use Forte more in the future if they want their offense to live up to its potential. Every single game outside of the Packers game last week, Forte has received under 20 carries and has less than 15 in two of the four games this year.
Obviously the Bears do have a powerful aerial attack with Cutler throwing to Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffery, and Martellus Bennett, but they still have to find a way to use Forte. Using the ground game more often would set up the passing attack, and would open up more big plays. The Bears should have confidence in their passing attack, but their most dangerous weapon could very well be their star running back.
It will be interesting to see how Marc Trestman continues to call his offense over the next few weeks, especially after the strong outing that Forte had against Green Bay. He finally received over 20 carries, and racked up 122 yards on 23 carries. Green Bay doesn’t have the best run defense in the league, but Forte still made plays happen and dominated the game.
There are obvious situations that the Bears have chosen to pass instead of pick up easy yardage by handing the football to Forte. Trestman has always been a fan of passing the football, but he can’t allow that to get in the way of what is best for the Bears’ overall offense. It wouldn’t be too surprising to see the Bears begin giving the football to Forte more often after the way things went down last week.
All of that being said, Chicago’s offense isn’t too far away from playing up to its full potential. There have been a good number of drives this year already that they have looked dominant, but they need to be much more consistent. Allowing Forte to pick up chunks of yardage on the ground would help that out in a big way.
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