LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- DJ Moore's locker is two stalls away from that of Chicago Bears running back D'Andre Swift. Over the past 16 months, since Swift signed his three-year, $24 million free agent contract with Chicago, Moore has had a bird's-eye view of how his teammate dealt with the ups and downs of a 2024 season that fell short of expectations.
"As long as I've known Swift, he's always been the same," Moore said. "I think some of the talk is getting to him, and he wants to be the best that he can be this year and he's going to go out there and prove it."
Swift's 959 rushing yards ranked 18th while his five touchdowns were 24th among all running backs despite his salary being the 11th highest at his position. At the start of training camp, Swift downplayed last year's frustrations serving as added motivation for his sixth NFL season, but the Bears are going to need a bounce-back year from their RB1, considering they didn't make many changes to the unit.
To go along with Swift, Roschon Johnson and Travis Homer, whose biggest contributions come on special teams, Chicago's sole running back addition was via the seventh-round pick the Bears used to draft Kyle Monangai, who has earned early praise from coach Ben Johnson.
"I know the perception out there is that maybe it's not the most talented room in the world," Johnson said. "They like to hear that noise."
The Bears ranked last in total offense (284.6) in 2024, due in large part to a rushing attack that failed to support a struggling passing game quarterbacked by then-rookie Caleb Williams. What was once a strength in Chicago devolved into a disappointment behind the Bears' 102 rushing yards per game (25th).
Swift crossed the 100-yard rushing threshold once in 17 games and had the lowest yards per attempt (3.8) of his career. Johnson matched Swift's touchdown total (6) but only mustered 150 yards over 14 games. There was so much left undone from last season that the 26-year-old running back can't nail down one area where he feels he needs to improve most.
"Everything," Swift said. "Especially when numbers ain't where they should be statistically, even though scrimmage yards (79.1), that was the best of my career. But we won four or five games (5-12). Can't sit up here and talk about anything positive. All of us have something to work on, something to get better at.
"When team success is at a premium, everything else is going to fall in line."
With pads coming on for the first time on Monday, Bears coaches will soon have an opportunity to see how these running backs fit into Johnson's scheme. While Johnson said he doesn't know what type of run game the Bears will feature just yet, it's certain to be an emphasis given how Detroit's run game powered the Lions' offenses during Johnson's time as offensive coordinator, particularly the 2023 and 2024 seasons when the team boasted the fifth and sixth best rushing attacks, respectively.
In 2024, the Lions' rushing attack was predicated off outside zone runs (51.3% of the time). Inside zone runs accounted for 12.8% of all rushes while gap scheme runs were featured 16.7%. Power runs (7.1%) and counters, sweeps, dives and traps were each run less than 5% of the time.
"Our wide zone has looked good the last few days and I know that we have a lot more install to put in with the run schemes," offensive coordinator Declan Doyle said. "It's not like we're introducing everything all at once. We want to be multiple and have the ability to do more. As we go, just being really critical about evaluating these schemes, is it something that fits us? If it's not, then it'll get removed."
Ben Johnson and Swift overlapped for the 2022 season when the running back was one-half of the Lions' rushing duo with Jamaal Williams. Detroit sent Swift to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2023 for a fourth-round pick, which it used to draft Jahmyr Gibbs as his replacement. With Gibbs and former Bear David Montgomery over the past two seasons, the Lions emerged as one of the league's best rushing units.
Part of that success can be attributed to the investment Detroit has regularly made in its offensive line. The Lions ranked ninth in run block win rate in 2023. While they dipped to 16th in 2024, Gibbs and Montgomery still accounted for 28 rushing touchdowns (second in the NFL).
Swift knows the benefit of playing behind a strong offensive line. The starting five that the Eagles fielded during his career-best season in 2023 allowed him to set a career high in rushing attempts (229) and yards (1,049) and was widely regarded as one of the top units in the NFL.
The success of Chicago's run game hinges on improved play up front, which led the Bears to swap the entire interior of its offensive line for guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson and center Drew Dalman.
The prospect of finding his running lanes behind a line that projects as a strength for the Bears allowed for the mild-mannered Swift to momentarily break character.
"I can't wait," Swift said, flashing a smile that matched the tenor of his response. "I'm excited."
