Bears must find balance in offense

Sep 21, 2017 - 1:19 AM LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- With all the hand-wringing in Chicago over quarterback Mike Glennon's turnovers against Tampa Bay, one sorry statistic escaped most eyes except for those of Bears offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains.

The Bears averaged 1.3 yards a carry against Tampa Bay in the first half of a 29-7 loss, and if they hope to take pressure off Glennon and the passing game that must improve Sunday at Soldier Field against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"Our expectations are much higher, our players' expectations are much higher than that," Loggains said.

It wasn't just in the first half against the Buccaneers when the Bears struggled on the ground.

Chicago averaged 1.6 yards for the game, and aside from one 46-yard jaunt on a broken play by Tarik Cohen in the opener, they're averaging 2.9 yards a rush for the season.

"We've just had some struggles," running back Jordan Howard said. "I gotta do better, gotta break more tackles, get back to my form last year."

Howard finished second in the league in rushing last season, but the first two Bears opponents crowded the line of scrimmage. With their top two receivers out and not much speed in the receiver group, the Bears are an open invitation for defenses to get up close.

"It wasn't one guy playing poor," Loggains said. "We're going to face overpopulated boxes, we know that. There's going to be seven, eight guys in the box every time and we have to execute better and it comes down to that.

"We didn't get Jordan to the second level, we lost on first down a lot there was a lot of second-down-and-7-pluses. I think we had one second-and-1, we were able to run the ball."

Howard has 59 yards on 22 attempts, but thinks it's still possible to get back to the 5.2 yards an attempt he had last year.

"I definitely think we can still get back to that," Howard said. "Last game we just got down by a lot so you can't really run the ball then."

Loggains saw a spiraling effect from the running problems.

"Obviously with that you have to have success and you have to have success on first down, you have to keep yourself in second-and-manageable or all of that falls on Mike Glennon to make plays on second-and-long," Loggains said. "I think he's running hard.

"We've got to do a better job up front and help him. It wasn't one guy. It was falling off the block here or there and not finishing the way that we need to up front to help him. When you get him to the second level he's a good back. He's going to break tackles. It's tough for people to tackle him for four quarters."

Two changes could impact the running game, one indirectly.

The first would be the return of guard Kyle Long to game shape after his ankle surgery last year. He practiced Wednesday on a limited basis and said he's progressing toward a return.

"I got some reps last week," Long said. "So we started to knock the rust off. But being able to develop that rhythm and that trust (between linemen) will be good, too."

The other change would be the possible addition of a true speed wide receiver. Markus Wheaton appears close to returning from a broken pinky.

The Bears hope more speed draws defenses off the line of scrimmage.

"He does have good quickness, good speed," coach John Fox said. "He's been a productive receiver in this league. He had 40, 50 catches two years prior to being injured.

"We're excited to watch him. He looked more involved last week. I think he's got a pretty good grasp of what we're doing which is obviously helpful."

Loggains pointed to all the substituting going on offensively due to injuries and acknowledged it makes putting together a cohesive group difficult.

"But that's an excuse," Loggains said. "We've got to find a way to get it done. The only thing that matters is keep putting these guys in good positions. We've got to execute."

SERIES HISTORY: 27th regular-season meeting. Bears lead series, 18-7-1. Chicago won the last two in the series, 40-23 in Pittsburgh in 2013 under coach Mark Trestman and 17-14 in 2009 under Lovie Smith at Soldier Field. Besides the 26 games played between the teams, the Bears also have three wins over "semi-Steeler" teams. During World War II in 1943, Chicago beat a combined Eagles and Steelers squad known as the "Steagles," 48-21. And in 1944 they defeated the "Card-Pitt" team, a combined Chicago Cardinals and Steelers team, 34-7 and 49-7. The manpower shortage and cash concerns during the war forced the Steelers to combine teams.