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Bear Necessities: Run game will be important factor as Chicago faces the 49ers

Alyssa Barbieri
·2 min read
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The Chicago Bears will debut their new-look offense Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers, which we haven’t even seen a glimpse of even during the preseason.

While all eyes will be on second-year quarterback Justin Fields — and rightfully so — establishing the run will be key for this offense. Luckily, the Bears have a stable of running backs in David Montgomery, Khalil Herbert and rookie Trestan Ebner, as well as fullback Khari Blasingame.

Ebner praised Luke Getsy’s scheme for how it fits each player’s strengths in the run game.

“It’ll be able to get people in space and get our backs, a lot of times, one-on-one with corners where we have an advantage and we’re able to make explosive runs based off that,” Ebner said, via ChicagoBears.com. “We’ve got a lot of motions, a lot of movements to confuse the defense to get guys in one-on-one matchups and all that, so I think this offense helps you put your best players in the best position to succeed.”

Never mind the fact that the forecast calls for heavy rain, which should make for a healthy run attack. But establishing the run is a quarterback’s best friend, as it’ll help open up the downfield passing attack.

“I mean if you can’t run the ball, then it’s gonna be hard to be successful on the offense,” said quarterback Justin Fields. “So just having those guys in the running back room, getting the running game going, that’s a big part of our offense. Of course, the better we are running the ball, the more it’s gonna open up play-action pass and a lot of the different stuff.”

Montgomery understands how an effective run game can take pressure off his quarterback.

“It’s definitely important,” Montgomery said. “It’s easier for Justin, it helps the line and it’s just a better game. It helps the game entirely if you can run the ball with great productivity. So, we just want to be sure that we kind of get on it early and we just handle it and have fun doing it too.”

Story originally appeared on Bears Wire