LAKE FOREST, Ill. – After filling their No. 1 need with Vanderbilt left tackle Chris Williams in the first round of Saturday's draft, the Bears bolstered their backfield by choosing Tulane running back Matt Forte in the second round (44th overall).

“Offensive line and running back were two of the positions that we had our eye on going into the draft,” said coach Lovie Smith. “So it’s a good day for us to be able to fill both of those needs.”

The Bears were impressed with Forte’s production and the fact that he remained in school to play all four years. As a senior, the 6-2, 222-pounder rushed for 2,127 yards and 23 touchdowns and caught 32 passes for 282 yards.

“He has excellent speed, he has good size and he can make you miss,” Smith said. “All the things you look for in a good running back he has.”

Matt Forte rushed for 2,127 yards and 23 TDs last season as a senior at Tulane.

After their rushing attack ranked 30th in yards per game and 32nd in yards per carry in 2007, the Bears were determined to acquire a running back to challenge Cedric Benson for the starting job.

They’re convinced that they’ve found their man in Forte, who is described in Pro Football Weekly’s 2008 Draft Preview as “a big, strong, hard-charging, upright, one-cut runner with the vision, instincts and toughness to be effective running inside.”

“We wanted players with good production, and we targeted certain positions that we either wanted to upgrade at and/or create more competition,” said general manager Jerry Angelo. “Forte would fall into the latter. We want to create more competition at the position.

“I felt like our running game was one of the weak spots on our football team. He gives us a big back, a three-down back. He’s got enough speed to get to the outside and he has the ability to make people miss at the second level. Those two areas where we could really never find any consistency, which made us an easy team to defend from my perspective.”

Angelo said that he hopes Forte will push Benson, who has not yet emerged as the type of back the Bears envisioned when they selected him with the No. 4 pick in the 2005 draft.

“Maybe he’s not the featured back we thought he’d be,” Angelo said of Benson. “He played well as a complementing back with Thomas [Jones]. When we thought we were starting to see a little something [last season], then he breaks his ankle.

“I felt that we needed to make sure that we protected that position. How it works out—if they complement each other or one takes the bull by the horns so-to-speak and he’s the guy—you can’t go wrong. You can’t have too many good backs.

“We have to be a running football team. We haven’t changed our philosophy. We didn’t get the results that we needed to get from our offense, and that’s what we looked at real hard when we came out of our meetings.”

Tulane coach Bob Toledo and Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom both offered high praise when the Bears inquired about Forte, who rushed for 4,145 yards and 38 touchdowns in four seasons for the Green Wave.

“Bob Toledo, who’s been around for a long time in college football, just raved about this guy,” Angelo said. “Sylvester Croom played against him a couple times. Our area scout asked Sly what he thought about him and Sly really recommended him very well as well.”

The Bears considered selecting a quarterback in the second round, but Forte was exactly the type of experienced and productive three-down back they were seeking.

“He’s a guy that we wanted in our program, on our team, so we feel real good about him getting into the mix at the running back position,” Smith said. “We have some other players there, but we’re just trying to add a little bit more firepower to our offensive team and we felt like we did that, so we’re feeling pretty good about our first two picks.”

“Our philosophy going into the draft was to get players that we can win with at need positions,” Angelo said. “That’s what we hoped to accomplish and feel strongly that we did. But again, they’ve got to come in here and do it. We all know that.”