The last time the Bears’ offense was decent, running back Tarik Cohen was at the center of it.
He was coach Matt Nagy’s favorite player in 2018, when the Bears — strongly aided by their defense — finished ninth in the NFL in points. He seemed to have limitless imagination with Cohen as a runner and receiver, and he even schemed for him to throw a touchdown pass at the goal line.
Those Bears were fun to watch, and Cohen was the star of the show. Nagy would really like to get that back. In the two seasons since, Nagy’s offense has spiraled, Cohen has disappeared and punting enthusiasts are the only ones who enjoy watching Bears games.
A healthy, committed Cohen could get the party going again. Despite him missing the first week of training camp as he works back from a torn ACL, Nagy believes the Bears are “absolutely” going to get the dynamic version of Cohen from a few years ago.
“He showed in ’18 the different ways you can use him,” Nagy said. “The coordinators I talked to, that was one of the No. 1 guys everyone wanted to stop.”
He led the offense with 1,169 yards from scrimmage — more than 20% of the team’s total — and was an all-pro punt returner. He was the Bears’ most compelling playmaker since Devin Hester.
The thrill might have gone to Cohen’s head, because he said his work ethic wavered in the ensuing offseason. It showed, too, as he slipped from 4.5 yards per carry to 3.3 and from 10.2 yards per catch to 5.8 in 2019.
He came back determined to reestablish himself as a playmaker last season and made such a strong impression on the Bears that they signed him to a three-year, $17.3 million contract extension after just two games. In the third game, though, Cohen suffered a season-ending knee injury while returning a punt.
The Bears are taking it slowly with Cohen’s recovery, and Nagy said Tuesday he believes it is still a matter of weeks, rather than days, until he takes his first step back on the practice field. The Bears’ season opener in Los Angeles is Sept. 12.
Cohen had surgery in early October, and the Mayo Clinic projects a typically recovery time of nine months with some athletes needing a full year to be full-go. Giants running back Saquon Barkley tore his ACL against the Bears the week before Cohen went down and he’s still on the Physically Unable to Perform list as well.
“I don’t want to [give] a timeline,” Nagy said. “I do know this: Every single day, Tarik is in that training room. Every day. He is doing everything he can to get that thing right. That’s all we can ask him to do.”
In the meantime, the Bears are relying on David Montgomery and newly acquired Damien Williams at running back. Williams has shown similar versatility to Cohen’s over his six-year career, including a career average of 8 yards per catch and putting up 711 yards from scrimmage for the Chiefs in 2019.
The Bears also loaded up with as much speed as they could find at wide receiver by adding Marquise Goodwin and Damiere Byrd to go along with returning players Allen Robinson and Darnell Mooney. Throwing in a healthy Cohen, who had 1,534 yards receiving over his first three seasons, could give the Bears one of the top groups of playmakers in the NFL.
