LAKE FOREST, Ill. – It may appear that the Bears now have a pass-oriented offense, but their philosophy hasn’t changed. They’re still a team that as Lovie Smith often says likes to “get off the bus running the football.”

Matt Forte had little room to maneuver last Sunday against a Steelers defense set on stopping the run.

The Bears’ run-first mentality seemingly contributed to last Sunday’s win over the defending Super Bowl champion Steelers. Pittsburgh arrived in Chicago determined to contain the ground game—and accomplished that goal by yielding only 43 yards on 18 carries.

But selling out to stop the run left the Steelers vulnerable to quick short passes, and Jay Cutler took what the defense gave him. The Bears quarterback took advantage of one-on-one mismatches, completing 27 of 38 passes for 236 yards and 2 touchdowns while being sacked only once.

“We realize that we need to get more production from our running game, but I think our running game is what allowed us to pass the ball as well as we did,” Smith said. “Teams come in thinking about stopping our run.

“We haven’t had a lot of yards. [But] I think with being a running team and continuing to run the ball—and just by knowing that we’re a running team—that’s enough in itself right there. Some days a team will gang up on the run and we’ll beat them passing the ball.”

While the threat of a running game was a key factor against the Steelers, the Bears are still determined to increase their production on the ground. They rank 31st in the NFL in rushing, averaging just 64.5 yards.

Second-year running back Matt Forte, who set a Bears rookie rushing record with 1,238 yards last season, has been limited to 84 yards on 38 carries, a 2.2-yard average.

“As much as anything, we have to keep the carries coming,” Smith said. “The amount of carries sometimes will do what you want to get done with the running game as long as the passing game is productive. We’re still a running football team. Some games, though, we may have to lean on the pass a little bit more like we did this past week. But we want to get the running game going each week.”

Smith understands how difficult it is to run against a defense that’s one and only goal is to contain the ground game. But he also knows how vital it is not to leave rushing yards on the field.

“Most of the time with the running game, it’s who wants it a little bit more on game day,” he said. 

“Sometimes on the defensive side, you can stop the run. You can continue to commit guys to the run to stop it, so we realize that. We need to be able to run the football when we have plays set up versus certain defenses to be able to run the football. But again, I have faith in our running game. We will get it going and go from there.”

Like Smith, offensive coordinator Ron Turner isn’t panicking.

“We’re going to be fine,” Turner said. “We only ran it 18 times last game. We didn’t really give it a chance. Going against one of the best teams against the run in the past several years, we didn’t run it a whole lot.

“We’ve got a good offensive line and good running backs. We’ll be able to run the ball. We know it’s something we’ve got to have and that we want to have. We’re going to have balance. Some games you’re going to have to throw a little bit more to win. Some games you’re going to have to run a little bit more to win.

“We’ll get it going if we stick with it. We’ve got a lot of confidence. We’re still going to come out and try to run the football. It’s a big part of what we do.”