[CBFF] Bears don't need to worry about overworking Matt Forte -chicagotribune.com

[Dwayne C]

I hope not. He was cut to make room for a 6th rounder.

D

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Jan van der Laan 
  To: post at chicagobearsfanforum.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, September 08, 2009 8:56 AM
  Subject: Re: [CBFF] Bears don't need to worry about overworking Matt Forte -chicagotribune.com


  Dominique Rhodes a possibility?


  On Tue, Sep 8, 2009 at 3:52 PM, Tom Shannon <tshanno at gmail.com> wrote:

    www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/chi-08-haugh-bears-chicago-sep08,0,2875838.story

    chicagotribune.com

    Bears don't need to worry about overworking Matt Forte

    Team's main concern should be finding proven backup for running back

    September 8, 2009


    Matt Forte's nickname should be "Prescription," because warnings of
    overuse so often follow any mention of his name in Chicago.

    Bears fans spent years before Forte arrived in 2008 wondering why the
    franchise that once found Walter Payton at Jackson State stopped
    drafting good running backs. Once they finally did, everybody started
    worrying about the risks of having too much of a good thing after
    Forte piled up yards and carries as a rookie -- 316 carries for 1,238
    yards, to be exact. Only three NFL running backs carried the ball
    more.

    Concerns over dangerously high dosages of Forte resurfaced over the
    weekend after backup running back Kevin Jones was lost for the season
    with torn ankle ligaments. The Bears had talked all preseason about
    plans to incorporate Jones into the offense more to keep Forte
    fresher, but it always sounded like well-intended coach-speak to these
    ears.

    Forcing Jones into the equation always sounded better in a meeting
    room than it looked on film. It always seemed like an illogical plan
    to devise a strategy that intentionally took away handoffs from one of
    the game's best running backs.

    Even when Jones was healthy, the Bears didn't need the veteran as an
    alternative to Forte as much as they needed him as insurance. A
    running back version of Brian Griese.

    Injury always should rate a bigger concern than overuse with a runner
    as gifted as Forte, who needs 18 to 20 carries a game for the Bears'
    offense to work best.

    Jones' presence never was going to change the offense as much as
    provide peace of mind. That peace of mind no longer exists, no matter
    how much public confidence coaches express in backups Garrett Wolfe
    and Adrian Peterson.

    Neither Wolfe nor Peterson, at this stage of his career, makes the
    Bears a legitimate threat to run the ball in the event Forte had to
    either sit out a game or two, or even a series or two with an injury.
    Remember the toe injury that slowed Forte the last three games of '08?
    Due to that reality, the Bears quickly need to rethink their plan at
    the position.

    The Bills cut eight-year veteran Dominic Rhodes to save $2 million
    remaining on his contract and make room for former sixth-round draft
    pick Xavier Omon. Anybody who remembers Bills coach Dick Jauron's
    offenses in Chicago can attest that Jauron disliking an offensive
    player hardly disqualifies him as a bona fide NFL contributor.

    Rhodes would seem to fit on the depth chart of many teams, including
    the Bears. It doesn't have to be Rhodes, but it would help a team like
    the Bears with real playoff aspirations to find a running back with
    NFL experience to guard against a worst-case scenario involving Forte.

    The idea behind pursuing an experienced backup running back for Forte
    differs from the philosophy of not having to sign a veteran to back up
    Jay Cutler.

    The Bears always could plug in a viable running back if Forte goes
    down and, as difficult as it might be, the season would not be lost
    and the offense wouldn't change dramatically. But if the unthinkable
    occurs and Cutler for the first time as a pro misses a game or games
    due to injury, the context of the season would change entirely.

    In that case, the Bears would be better developing Caleb Hanie and
    hoping to see progress in a quarterback the organization has groomed
    rather than plugging in an NFL retread who may or may not maintain the
    status quo.

    Though fascinating, all this likely will be a moot point and Forte
    will stay healthy and active without overdoing it. By virtue of having
    Cutler, a downfield passer, expect Forte to catch fewer passes and
    possibly even get fewer handoffs.

    With Cutler -- and possibly due to Cutler -- the Broncos had a 62-38
    percent pass-to-run ratio in 2008. The Bears were 56-44 pass-to-run
    with Kyle Orton. Say Cutler's ability to throw causes offensive
    coordinator Ron Turner to inch the Bears up to a 58 percent pass, 42
    percent run. Then, if Forte were to receive 73 percent of the team's
    handoffs as he did a year ago during his season of alleged overuse,
    that would give him 307 carries -- nine fewer than in '08.

    Expect Forte's reception total to decrease too. If he leads the team
    again in catches, as he did with 63 last year, then something has gone
    terribly wrong. Cutler is not a quarterback prone to checking down, or
    needing to, as much as Orton was. He naturally looks downfield more.
    Denver averaged 7.1 yards per pass attempt in 2008, for instance,
    compared to 5.5 for the Bears.

    As a result, Bears running backs don't figure to be as involved in the
    passing game; six Broncos running backs caught 43 catches combined
    last year from Cutler.

    Cutler being the focal point of the offense takes pressure, and thus a
    load, off Forte and his body. Finding Forte a proven backup rates a
    bigger priority than finding spots in the game to rest the franchise
    running back.

    Let defensive coordinators worry about how much Forte touches the
    ball. They need to more than the Bears do.

    dhaugh at tribune.com

    Copyright © 2009, Chicago Tribune


    http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/chi-08-haugh-bears-chicago-sep08,0,3462183,print.story

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