Thread: Forte convinced running still key in NFL

The Bears are looking good running AND passing now. Bush was a nice pickup in the off-season.

LINK to the article

A common theory throughout the NFL is that the importance of the running back position is in decline.

But Matt Forte insists that notion is groundless.



Despite the giddiness surrounding the addition of Pro Bowl wide receiver Brandon Marshall to the Bears offense, the first five games demonstrated that the unit is better when there is a genuine balance of running and passing.

In the long run, offenses usually do not function efficiently without a competent running game. Despite missing a game with an ankle injury, Forte is averaging 4.7 yards a carry. He rushed for 107 yards on 22 attempts in last Sunday's 41-3 victory in Jacksonville. In the Bears' only loss in Green Bay, during which he hurt his ankle, Forte had just seven carries.

"The passing game doesn't work without the running game," Forte said Thursday after surprising students during a school assembly at Tilden Career Community Academy High School on the South Side. "They go hand and hand. You can't sit back and throw 70 balls and expect somebody to go up in double-coverage and get it. You have to run the ball."

Jay Cutler dropped back to pass 40 times (sacked once) and the Bears rushed 33 times against the Jaguars. Forte caught two of the four passes targeted for him.

"If you're playing on third down, and you're playing on first and second down … you're running the ball," he said. "Third down, you have to (pass) block or you have to run a pass route and catch the ball. I run pass routes out of the backfield, so I'm playing."

The theme for Thursday's motivational event, which was sponsored by a battery company, was "Trust Your Power," and Forte could relate to that motto.

"I have had to do that my whole entire career," Forte said after addressing the students, including their winless football team.

"From a high school (in Slidell, La.) that didn't really make the playoffs until I got there, and then going to a college (Tulane) that didn't really go to a lot of bowl games … and being recruited out of college saying that I went to a small school and might not be good enough for the NFL … I had to trust my power a lot."

Forte planned to join teammates Earl Bennett and Kellen Davis on Thursday to watch the Tilden football team practice and provide encouragement. Earlier in the day, Forte spent almost two hours mingling with members of the football team in a private classroom as they shared pizza and conversation.

"It feels good to come here. I am talking to the football team and they only have 15 guys on the whole team," said Forte, who presented the team with a $20,000 item donation. "They have to play both ways and it's tough in high school to do that."