The Chicago Bears head coach received some bad news: he was dismissed.
Running back D’Onta Foreman of the Chicago Bears is upset that the team decided to sit him out of Week 17’s game against the Atlanta Falcons, resorting to social media to say there “am not no love in this s***.”
About 90 minutes before kickoff in Week 17, the Bears classified Foreman as one of their inactive players. However, the running back gave away his game-day status the evening before by expressing his dissatisfaction in a cryptic message on X, formerly Twitter.
Foreman is back at No. 4 on the Bears’ depth chart for running backs. As their starting tandem, Chicago has been happy to let rookie Roschon Johnson and Khalil Herbert lead the way. Since Travis Homer plays special teams and Foreman does not, he has settled in as their third running back in the interim.
Over nine games in 2023, Foreman has 109 carries for 425 yards and four touchdowns. In the passing game, he also caught 11 of his 16 targets for 77 yards and another touchdown.
Foreman has always been a valuable scratch for the Bears. Following his five rushes for sixteen yards in the season opener, he was benched by Chicago for the next four games, with Herbert, Johnson, and Homer starting instead of him. But as injuries occurred, Foreman started to have significant snaps.
Foreman averaged 4.2 yards on 87 carries during his six-game stint as a starter. He also scored four touchdowns on the ground and added a fifth on a 5-yard reception. However, he missed the next game due to an ankle/shin injury he sustained towards the conclusion of the Week 11 loss to the Detroit Lions. The Bears then went back to using Herbert and Johnson as their primary two-man rotation, and they stayed that way for the most part.
Naturally, the fact that Foreman only gained six yards on six rushes during the Cleveland Browns game in Week 15 did not aid his cause. After that performance, the Bears benched him for their next game and have now done so twice in a row, raising the possibility that he would sit out the season finale against Green Bay the following week.
Perhaps Foreman’s last game in a Bears uniform was played because he is set to become a free agent in 2024. To have him back for the upcoming season, Chicago would have to give him a new deal, and based on his usage, it appears they will not be interested in doing so.
Foreman is unlikely to be in the Bears’ backfield in 2024, but if they are content with their present alternatives, the backfield might not look all that different. Johnson will only be entering the second year of a four-year rookie contract, while Herbert will be entering the last year. Moreover, Homer inked a two-year contract during the 2023 offseason.
The question is: In order to guard against future injuries, will the Bears sign a reasonably priced veteran, as they did with Foreman in 2023? Alternatively, will they recruit a lesser-known player to compete for a roster spot in training camp, or will they select another rookie?
Justin Fields’ future may come into play. His ability to rush the ball gives the offense a another component, reducing the requirement for more than two running backs to be used in the rotation. But if the Bears cut ties with Fields, and they do not bring in a new quarterback with a comparable degree of mobility, things might change.
