In the Bears 5 wins this season, they are averaging 29.6 rushes for their RBs. The higher the total number of rushes, the better chance they have to win. Of course when you have the lead you have more freedom to run the ball; but the primary reason the Bears won each one of those games is their commitment to the run early. It opens their entire offense, especially play-action.
This offensive line is built to run block much better than it is to pass protect. They have good collection of size with enough quickness to get out in front of Forte and clear it out before he throws it in. When they're able to get the ground game going, it makes it so much easier for them to protect Cutler and give these WRs time to get open. But when Martz goes away from Forte and starts chucking it all over the place, that's when the offensive line gets in trouble. They need to run it early and often to keep this offense playing well. I think it's important that the Bears reach the 25 rush attempts milestone in order to win.
We have to give Martz some credit, though. It seems like he finally gets it... at least for now he does. During this three game win streak, the RBs have averaged 30.7 attempts per game. The question is, 'Will they stick with the run or will Martz get bored and start chucking?' Martz has been very creative with the run plays he's drawn up this season. He still gets to put in his motions that he loves so much and try to confuse the defense. Hopefully that will keep him interested because the only thing that can stop Matt Forte is Mike Martz.
Bears RBs combined rush attempts per game:
vs ATL - 26
vs NO - 11
vs GB - 9
vs CAR - 30
vs DET - 24
vs MIN - 28
vs TB - 31
vs PHI - 33
vs DET - 31
vs SD - 27
vs OAK - 22
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