If the Bears and Falcons want to get in on Bowl Game Mania this weekend, they might want to consider renaming their game the Longhorn Bowl. That’s because three Texas running backs will all take center stage at Soldier Field: D’Onta Foreman, Roschon Johnson and of course, rookie phenom Bijan Robinson.
Johnson played alongside Robinson for three years at Texas and is looking forward to the opportunity to see him on Sunday.
“I think it’s going to be fun,” Johnson said. “It’s crazy we’re in this position.”
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Both the Bears and Falcons want to run their offense through their running backs. It’s no secret that each team prioritizes getting a ground game established. So fans should get a good sense of what Longhorns running backs can do over the course of the afternoon.
“It’s going to be a great showcase of our backs, of their backs. It’s going to be a bloodbath. It’s going to be physical. But I think it’s going to be fun on both sides of the ball.”
As things stand now, the Falcons rank second in the NFL with 473 rushing attempts. The Bears are third with 472. Among all the Longhorns backs, Robinson has produced the most offense with 873 rushing yards and 373 receiving yards.
“It’ll be good to see (Robinson) and be able to compete against him,” said Foreman. “I’ll be excited to see his performance and how he performs. Happy for him regardless.”
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There’s a long line of phenomenal Longhorns running backs headlined by names like Earl Campbell, Ricky Williams, Jamaal Charles and Eric Metcalf. It’s not just recent success.
“When you go to Texas and go into that running back room, you see all the great running backs on the wall so you know the kind of great tradition that it has,” Johnson said. “It means a lot that I get to be a part of that.”
There’s no Longhorns Legends group chat, or anything like that, but all the Texas RBs support each other from afar.
“When I was in school I had support from guys like Earl and Ricky, guys that came before me,” said Foreman.
Foreman joined Campbell and Williams to attend Robinson’s Doak Walker award presentation, which recognizes the best running back in the college ranks. That’s where Foreman first met Robinson.
“He was a good dude. Really cool.”
Make no mistake, the Bears running backs want to beat the Falcons first and foremost. But win, lose or draw, no matter what happens, they’re happy for each other’s successes.