Haugh: Chicago Bears rookie Matt Forte model of consistency

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Chicago Bears rookie Matt Forte model of consistency
Bears' postseason hopes rest on reliable rookie

David Haugh
11:47 PM CST, November 23, 2008

ST. LOUIS

Having taken a direct snap from center once Sunday in the Bears' 27-3 victory over the St. Louis Rams, Matt Forte was asked if he had an arm in case a play out of that trick formation ever required him to pass.

"I've got two arms," Forte replied with a chuckle.

This was Forte's idea of funny, Chicago, as outrageous as the soft-spoken rookie probably ever gets. Oh, Forte possesses a good sense of humor, but he has a better sense of the moment.

This season is becoming his.

"You get the same player each week," coach Lovie Smith said of Forte.

There is no higher compliment in the Lovie Smith glossary.

If you want mercurial, Tommie Harris is waiting at his locker. If you want to obsess over a player's workload as if he were punching a timeclock, Devin Hester is your guy. If you like motion sickness, then the Bears' defense won't disappoint.

But if you want a true barometer of the Bears' postseason chances, follow the next five games of the rookie running back whose 132-yard rushing day against the Rams refocused this season more than anything.

One of the least quotable Bears might be their most valuable, a welcome combination for any NFL rookie.

"When he hits the holes it makes us look better than we are," center Olin Kreutz said. "Running the ball gets you in a rhythm. It gets you believing in all the plays, makes you feel you can run whatever you want and it will work."

Things will continue to work for the Bears if Forte keeps attacking the line of scrimmage the way he did against the Rams.

He combined force with field vision when he followed pulling guard Josh Beekman into the end zone on a 13-yard touchdown run. He flashed that extra gear all elite running backs have on a 47-yard sprint to the end zone.

On that touchdown, Forte froze Rams safety Oshiomogho Atogwe so badly that Atogwe would have missed him if it were flag football.

"If they're blocking and the holes are that big, I have to make the safety miss," Forte said. "That's my job."

By the time Forte is done doing his job as a running back in Chicago, maybe only Walter Payton will have done it better.

Forte remains on pace to gain more yards from scrimmage than any Bears running back except Payton this season, and Sunday moved past Gale Sayers on the rookie single-season rushing list.

Forte now has carried 225 times for 909 yards and six touchdowns, more than any rookie running back in the league after Tennessee's Chris Johnson had a tough day against the Jets.

Asked if he was as surprised as others have been at his consistency, Forte shrugged.

You have to love a rookie running back carrying the ball on the brink of Bears history who shrugs but still makes eye contact.

"No," he said. "I go in expecting to do well, therefore, I can do well."

It would be wise if the rest of the Bears took Forte's quiet confidence away from this blowout, but little more than that.

Beating a terrible Rams team by 24 doesn't mean a defense still capable of disappearing next Sunday has been fixed or the offense has resumed scoring where it left off before the competition stiffened.

It doesn't mean five sacks and four turnovers by the defense makes it incapable of giving up 400 yards to the Vikings or that other flaws so evident in the past month were fixed in three hours.

It only means the Bears had success against a 2-9 team by using a tried and true formula for teams in playoff contention.

Forte averaging 6.6 yards a carry forced the Rams' secondary to respect every play-action fake just long enough for receivers to get separation they didn't get against Tennessee and Green Bay. Nobody benefits more from that than quarterback Kyle Orton, who was an efficient 18 of 29 for 139 yards and one TD without an interception.

"You get to November, you have to run the ball," an appreciative Orton said.

To run the ball well enough to win the NFC North, it helps to have a special runner. The Vikings have Adrian Peterson. The Packers have Ryan Grant. For the Bears, life begins at Forte.

"Everything starts with being able to run the football," Smith said.

Now is no time to worry about Forte running the football too much. When he looks around the corner, he doesn't see that rookie wall that everybody seems to fear.

He did lose his first fumble of the season when the ball was ripped out of his hands while he was stood up in a pile, but the turnover wasn't due to carelessness or fatigue from overwork.

"I actually feel better than I did last year [at Tulane] probably because I had more carries at this point last year," Forte said.

Good memory. During his senior year in college, Forte averaged 30 carries per game. Through 11 games as a pro, he averages 20.

For the Bears to be legitimate threats to win the division, there must be a carry-over effect against the Vikings for a running game that gained a whopping 201 yards.

"In the NFL, you have to forget about what happened the last week," he said.

That approach already has made this a memorable rookie year for Forte.

dhaugh@tribune.com

[RumpShaker]

Quote - "Matt Forte was asked if he had an arm in case a play out of that trick formation ever required him to pass.

"I've got two arms," Forte replied with a chuckle.

This was Forte's idea of funny, Chicago, as outrageous as the soft-spoken rookie probably ever gets."


Actually, it made me laugh pretty hard for a 5am wake-up...

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MY GUY!