HOUSTON – The Bears averaged just 3.3 yards per carry in Sunday night’s 19-13 loss to the Houston Texans. That number’s bad enough on its own, and gets worse after removing Caleb Williams’ five quarterback scrambles – one might’ve been a designed run – from the equation.

Then you’re left with 27 yards on 17 carries and a paltry 1.5 yards per tote. That’s the production received from Bears running backs on more traditional runs.

That’s a brutal average that will prevent wins and steady offensive efficiency. In sum, run game looks lost right now. The offensive line has struggled to open up rushing lanes, which is particularly bad for a running back like D’Andre Swift, who isn’t built for significant yards after contract and needs slivers of space to be at his dangerous best.

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An inability to run effectively was an issue in Week 1 as well and creates problems that turn into an avalanche of bad. It takes the offense off schedule, creating obvious passing situations where guys like Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter feast. It makes protection harder on obvious passing situations and, on Sunday night, set the Bears back in a significant way.

“We obviously want to run the ball better than we did,” Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said. “It was okay but not good enough. Not good enough. We’ve got to establish the run game. I think that’s always a good friend to a young quarterback when you can do that.”

When that first domino doesn’t fall, it impacts everything else. That hasn’t been an issue for the Bears in recent seasons, but it has been a real problem in the early going this year. The offensive linemen acknowledged that point over and again in the postgame locker room, making it clear there’s an understanding that the run game has to get right. It’s a fundamental element of good offense that isn’t going well at all.

“We have to better running the ball so we’re not putting ourselves in tough situations,” left tackle Braxton Jones said. “If we’re running the ball well, the protection takes care of itself. That’s where it starts.”

Over two games, Bears running backs have 82 yards on 33 carries. That’s 2.48 yards per carry. Singling out that number isn’t meant to put sole blame on the backs. It’s a team-wide thing, with blocking and timing of everyone on offense and backs making smart choices within the flow of a play.

All aspects of that seem a little off. Shane Waldron’s scheme is new around here, but the bedrock within that system (and all others) is to run the ball effectively. That just hasn’t happened yet.

The Bears understood that the offense would take some time to come together. It’s clearly not there yet.

“We still have to discover that,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “I think that’s going to be big for us. To me, that’s part of the identity here as an organization. You look at how it has been here throughout the years, and that’s something you want to lean into and an area we have to get better at.”

The offense overall isn’t quite right, but the Bears are committed to the grind of improving it in future weeks.

“We didn’t execute the way we needed to,” Williams said. “We know that. But now it’s all about the response.”

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