D’Onta Foreman deserves to remain the Bears’ top running back
Bears running back D’Onta Foreman carries the ball against the Raiders on Sunday.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Rookie Roschon Johnson returned to Bears practice in full Wednesday, still needing to clear one final step of the NFL’s concussion protocol in order to play Sunday. Whether Johnson makes it back after missing two games or not, though, should have no bearing on how much D’Onta Foreman plays against the Chargers.
Foreman has earned the right to be the Bears’ lead running back so long as he keeps running with the punishing style he showed against the Raiders. That’s true, whether coach Matt Eberflus wants to say it out loud or not.
“Last week was a really good performance — historical for the Bears.” Eberflus said Wednesday. “But again, it’s week to week. We’re going to see how he practices. We’ll evaluate the group as we go during the course of this week.”
Foreman ran 16 times for 89 yards Sunday and two touchdowns and caught three passes for 31 yards and a score. Only two other Bears running backs this century have posted three or more touchdowns in a game. Foreman was named FedEx Ground Player of the Week on Wednesday and also posed with a plastic scepter he received for winning NFL Network’s Angry Runs title for Week 7.
The fourth-leading rusher in the NFL over the past two weeks, Foreman wouldn’t say whether he thinks he’s earned the right to keep the starting job.
“I just go out there and handle what I can handle …” he said. “Whatever role they have me in, I’ll excel in that role. That’s kinda my focus. I think just me continuing to go out there and stack days on top of days, games on top of games, I think it’ll take care of itself.”
Foreman speaks from experience. The Bears are his sixth team in six seasons. He lasted less than three weeks with the Colts in 2019 and a month with the Falcons in 2021. He’s backed up the Texans’ Lamar Miller, the Titans’ Derrick Henry and the Panthers’ Christian McCaffrey. After the Panthers traded their star last year, Foreman spent the last 11 weeks of the season as the third-leading rusher in the NFL.
He signed with the Bears — and was a healthy scratch four weeks in a row until every single other halfback was knocked from the Commanders game.
Sometimes he thinks he shouldn’t have to prove himself over and over again.
“I definitely feel that, honestly,” he said. “But it’s a business. There are a lot of other great running backs, a lot of really good running backs and a lot of good competition. I take nothing away from those guys. They push me each and every day to continue to excel and get better and better.
“It’s part of how it goes. … I feel like when I get my opportunity to do so I feel like I handle myself and carry myself in a way that I think they believe and trust in me. I just want to continue to grow and build on that.”
He should be able to — at least physically. Foreman said lower back felt “terrible” Monday and Tuesday after he was hurt landing on it Sunday, but he was a full participant Wednesday, soreness and all.
“He always makes the first guy miss,” said receiver DJ Moore, a Panthers teammate last year. “So he’s just trolling, and trucks people with the ball. It’s fun to watch and see. That’s what you want to go out there and block for.”
The question isn’t whether he should get more carries than Johnson — it’s whether he will split time with Khalil Herbert when he returns. Herbert, the Bears’ clear lead back before he hurt his ankle in Week 5, can return from injured reserve as soon as Week 10.
“I’ve just always kept the mindset that when you get your opportunity you got to go out there and capitalize on it,” Foreman said. “When you get it, try not to give it back.”