Linebacker Jamar Chaney believes that Bears running back Matt Forte "is probably the best running back in the league the way he's playing right now."
Forte is first in the NFL with 1,091 total yards from scrimmage this season. He is seventh in the league in rushing yards with 672. He leads all running backs in the league with 38 catches for 419 yards.
The 6-2, 218-pound Forte is extremely valuable to the Bears offensive attack. He is one of the few every-down backs in the league with his ability to run, catch the ball and block. Highlighting just how important Forte is to the Bears, he has accounted for 46.2 percent of the team's offense this season. LeSean McCoy has been instrumental to the Eagles' resurgence in the past two contests and is fifth in the NFL in yards from scrimmage, but even he only accounts for 28.4 percent of the Eagles offense.
Eagles players noted how Forte relishes contact and uses hits to balance himself. He is not going to run out of bounds. Defensive end Trent Cole hinted that Forte is "running mad" because of the back's desire for a new contract.
"He's a hard runner. When he gets going, he knows how to elude people in the open field," Cole said. "The man is having a great season. He's leading the NFL in (total) yards. This is a big test for us on Monday. You slow a guy down like that; you're going to put a dent in their offensive game. I think we've got the defense to do it. I'm 100 percent confident in our defense."
Cole and fellow defensive end Jason Babin will be critical to the team's success against Forte because of their ability to set the edge. The Bears design a lot of counter and zone runs to get Forte to the outside where, much like McCoy, he can do damage in space.
"He's a powerful runner and he's got some nice wiggle to him," Babin said. "So we really need to pursue the ball because there's going to be missed tackles; he's going to make some guys miss, but as long as we're all running and hunting we'll be there to take care of each other and have each other's backs."
Forte will present a lot of the same challenges that Bills running back Fred Jackson did back in Week 5. Jackson ran for 111 yards and a touchdown and also amassed 85 yards receiving through dump-offs and designed screens.
"We have to be smart going in. We know how teams approach us, especially with the way we can get after a quarterback. They try to throw little wrinkles in there, catch us," said defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins, who faced Forte twice a year as a member of the Packers." If he does get a first down or make a little play on us, we have to make sure we keep it at that and don't let him get the big plays."
The Eagles struggled early in the season against the run, but are now ranked 19th after allowing just 127 rushing yards in the last two games combined. However, Forte may just provide the biggest litmus test yet for how much this run defense has improved.
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