The Bears got back to their bread and butter against the Cardinals on Christmas Eve and ran the ball for 250 yards on 39 carries. The offense is predicated on an effective ground game, and the great 6.4 yards per carry average translated to 27 points and a win.
The man who shouldered most of the load was Khalil Herbert, who carried the ball a season-high 20 times for a season-high 112 yards. Herbert also scored his first rushing touchdown of the season.
“I liked his tempo and the way that he brought it to the game,” said head coach Matt Eberflus. “Everything starts with passion. That’s the No. 1 thing, and he did a really good job with that. I thought he got his pads down.”
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Eberflus highlighted Herbert’s 11-yard touchdown as an especially good play since the run was designed to go inside, but Herbert made the right decision to kick the ball outside.
“He did a really good job of reading the Mike linebacker and capturing the edge.”
It was a bounce-back performance for Herbert, who was limited to 16 total yards on nine attempts across the last two games. Herbert hasn’t looked like himself since returning from an ankle injury in Week 11. But he and the rest of the running backs were determined to produce well after they were stifled by the Browns in Week 15.
“We took it personally,” Herbert said.
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Of course, when the Bears put up huge rushing numbers like they did against the Cardinals, Justin Fields is usually involved. He had one of his most effective games of the season as a rusher, both on designed runs and scrambles.
“They don’t have the fastest d-linemen, so I knew I would be able to extend plays and stuff like that,” Fields said. “I think that’s really it.
“I told the o-linemen, ‘Yo, we don’t have to hold. If they break free, they’re not as fast as the guys we played last week (the Browns).’ Guys did a great job up front when I didn’t have to do anything.”
Fields also said that the team was well prepared for the looks that the Cardinals defense used on Sunday. They knew what to expect and had an answer. Fields finished the day with nine carries for 97 yards. His 10.8 YPC was a season-high.
Like Fields, each man asked about the run game’s success mentioned the offensive line first. “It starts up front,” was probably the most-repeated line in the locker room. The holes that the o-line was able to create were noticeable and made things easier for the ball carriers. From Fields’ perspective, the o-line did more than create running “lanes” that we hear about so often.
“There were highways out there,” Fields said.
Whenever the Bears' offense started to stall, the run game was always there to rev the engines again. It’s the script the Bears want to follow, and they followed it well enough to win.
Over the past two seasons, the Bears’ offensive identity has been elusive as the team has tried to find the best ways to operate. For now, it seems clear that the path to victory is on the ground.
“That’s really about controlling the game,” said Eberflus. “When you get a lead like that, you can control the game with a run game like that.”