BEARS 101

Although Michael Bush didn't want his sole purpose of joining the Chicago Bears to be the goal line back when he signed a four-year deal this offseason, he has been pigeon-holed to that role, and was quite effective.

More often than not, Bush has found the end zone in goal-to-goal situations, something that starter Matt Forte has failed at in recent years.

Chicago has officially lost their goal line back for the remainder of the season as the Bears placed him on IR with a rib injury, as we speculated would happen yesterday. They also resigned Kahlil Bell to take Bush's place on the roster.

Need evidence to see Bush's value to the Bears? Look no further than Sunday's loss to the Green Bay Packers. Chicago had the ball first and goal at the Green Bay five-yard line and handed the ball to Forte three times. He gained four yards on his first carry, but was stopped for no gain on the latter two from the one-yard line.

Chicago was forced to kick a field goal, and eventually lost the game 21-13.

This is nothing new for Forte as he's routinely failed in goal-to-go situations. Forte has converted just one of eight of those carries this year, while Bush has five touchdowns on 11 such carries. For his career, Forte has just 10 touchdowns on 94 goal-to-goal carries, while Bush has 22 touchdowns on just 68 carries.

Chicago's offense is bad enough. They don't score enough points as it is, but now things will get worse as they team will have trouble punching in touchdowns if/when they get close to the goal line.

Tags: Chicago, Chicago Bears, Football, Green Bay Packers, Kahlil Bell, Matt Forte, Michael Bush, NFL

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