There’s no short list of free agents the Bears can sift through to find a Tarik Cohen-type player to fill his void. There is no Cohen type. At his best, he’s an inimitable offensive weapon.
So when the Bears called up undrafted rookie Artavis Pierce from the practice squad, the idea was not for him to “replace” Cohen.
“He’s explosive, he can run the ball, he can run routes — at this level, that’s what it takes to be a running back,” Pierce said. “I can do a little bit of that. I’m not as shifty as him, but I got a little shiftiness to do the same thing.”
Whether he’s being humble or realistic, a little bit is probably all the Bears are looking for from Pierce as coach Matt Nagy tries to rebuild his rushing attack after Cohen’s season-ending ACL injury.
If there is such a thing as a somewhat convenient time to deal with an injury such as Cohen’s, it’s right now. The Colts have the No. 1 defense in the league, but it’s much better against the pass (first in opponent passer rating at 64.0) than the run (11th in yards per carry at 4.0).
As excited as everyone is about quarterback Nick Foles, it’s paramount that Nagy keeps running. The Bears barely had a ground game last season, finishing 27th, and Nagy dedicated his offseason to changing that. The early results, with Cohen playing a vital role alongside David Montgomery and Cordarrelle Patterson, have been promising: 138 yards per game (11th), 4.9 per carry (seventh) and a reasonable pass-run split (59% passes, 41% runs).
Cohen accounted for 19% of the carries and 23% of the rushing yardage, not to mention his contributions as a receiver and punt returner. Rather than plug in Pierce for that load, the Bears are more likely to shift some of Cohen’s work to Montgomery.
From the time they drafted him No. 73 overall last year, the Bears have envisioned Montgomery as a back who can run between the tackles and be a factor as a receiver. His share of the carries is likely to go from 60% to 70-75%, and he’ll need to pick it up in the passing attack after only six catches for 64 yards in the first three games.
The template might be his career day in the loss to the Chargers last season. Montgomery ran 27 times for 135 yards and caught four passes, though he gained only 12 yards on those receptions. With Montgomery getting around 30 touches, the Bears would be looking for Patterson and Pierce to pitch in where they can.
But Pierce got the call-up for a reason. The Bears were high on him at Oregon State, where he averaged 5.8 yards per carry for his career, and pounced on him immediately after the draft.
While he did not make the cut, losing out to former college teammate Ryan Nall, Pierce kept himself in the mix with an impressive preseason — he did “a lot of the little things right,” he said — and good work on the practice squad. He has made his case more so as a runner than as a receiver, and the Bears hope to develop him into a more well-rounded player a la Cohen.
“[Pierce has] really, really good vision, patience in the hole, [and] we’re continuing to work on his ball skills coming out of the backfield,” Nagy said. “Our personnel [department] did a great job of finding him, and now you get a guy that has an opportunity.
“And who knows how much or what he’ll get, but, shoot, I know this: He’s done everything that he possibly could have done to this point.”
