Khalil Herbert couldn't have been happier to leave Bears and Matt Eberflus in the dust

The NFL trade deadline can change fortunes in an instant. One minute you're staring down an Aidan Hutchinson-shaped hole in your depth chart, and the next you've got Za'Darius Smith. One minute you're running out of functional receivers for Patrick Mahomes to throw to, and the next you've got DeAndre Hopkins making highlight-reel grabs. Super Bowls can be won and lost in a few hours on a Tuesday afternoon.

And that's true for players as much as teams. The trade deadline is the ultimate "get out of jail free" card, a chance to go from playing out the string to playing for a championship — or at the very least getting out from under a depth chart logjam. That was certainly true for Khalil Herbert on Tuesday morning, when news broke that the running back was being traded from the Chicago Bears to the Cincinnati Bengals. And he wasted no time letting the world know how he felt about the change of scenery.

Khalil Herbert couldn't wait to get shipped out of Chicago

Just minutes after word of the deal broke, Herbert issued a simple message on social media: "Thank you God," followed by a quick #WhoDey.

And really, it's hard to blame him. A former sixth-round pick back in 2021, Herbert had flashed some promise as a rotational back over his first three seasons in the league. But he'd fallen out of favor with new OC Shane Waldron in 2024, tallying just eight carries for 16 yards behind De'Andre Swift and Roschon Johnson and spending recent Sundays as a healthy scratch. With free agency looming, Herbert was looking for a chance to showcase what he could do, and it was very clear that, barring a major change, that chance wasn't going to come in Chicago.

It very well might in Cincinnati, however. Chase Brown is firmly entrenched as the Bengals' RB1, but with Zack Moss out for the foreseeable future, Herbert figures to slot right in as the RB2. That means consistent work, particularly on passing downs, for a dynamic offense that still has a puncher's chance at a playoff spot in the wide-open AFC Wild Card race. It's hard to ask for a better change of scenery than that, and it could wind up making Herbert a decent chunk of money over the next few weeks.