On his third preseason snap ever as a member of the Bears last year, receiver DJ Moore took a quick screen pass 62 yards for a touchdown.
“‘When you increase your skill on your football team,” coach Matt Eberflus said then, “the catch-and-runs get larger and the stat lines look better.”
In just his second snap as a member of the Bears on Saturday, running back D’Andre Swift took a screen pass 42 yards in an eventual 33-6 win against the Bills.
Swift is the logical conclusion of the Bears’ quest, which began with the trade for Moore and apexed in March, to surround their quarterback with skill — even if the quarterback, Caleb Williams, is different from last year’s model.
Signed to three-year, $24 million deal this offseason, Swift was the ultimate luxury item for a team with plenty of money. The Bears went from spending $5.78 million in salary cap space on all their running backs combined last season to paying Swift $5.83 million in cap space this year. Only seven running backs in the NFL make more.
Saturday, Swift looked worth every penny. On the fifth play of the game — first-and-10 at the Bears’ 40 —Swift pretended to pass block, stutter-stepped and waited for the trap to be set.
By the time Williams tossed a middle screen to him, looking for all the world like a shot-putter on fast forward, there were two blockers in front of the Bears running back.
Swift caught the ball at the line of scrimmage and bounced left around a block from center Coleman Shelton. He outran cornerback Rasul Douglas up the sideline and, at the 25, decided to cut back inside. He might have made it all the way to the end zone, too, had he not stumbled to the ground at the 20.
“Swift is a guy that’s dynamic and got a lot of good speed,” Eberflus said. “He’s just gotta kick his feet up at the end there.”
He had to settle for a 42-yard gain — and the Bears, eventually, for a field goal.
“I saw it open and I could feel the defenders kind of breaking through the line, which they should on a screen,” Williams said. “The offensive line did a great job making it seem believable as if they were going to let up a sack … and toss it over the head.”
It was the Bears’ longest play on a day full of them.
“(Williams) did a helluva job avoiding the pressure and making something happen,” Swift said.
Once he got the ball in his hands, Swift did too. Just like Moore did a year ago, Swift sat down for good after his long screen. Moore played three snaps, Swift two.
The Bears hope that Swift can do for the running backs room what Moore did for their receivers last year. Both joined a position group whose best player was an ascending, if inconsistent, fourth-year player — Darnell Mooney in 2023 and Khalil Herbert in 2024 — with young players pushing them. Receiver Tyler Scott was a rookie in 2023, while running back Roschon Johnson is entering his second season this year.
In both cases, adding a top-level player give the Bears a top option while improving their skill down the depth chart.
Swift, who made his first Pro Bowl last year, thinks there’s a new level he can reach. He has 195 career catches. Had Sunday’s screen happened in a regular season game, it would have been the third-longest of his career.
“He’s damn-near a receiver,” linebacker T.J. Edwards said last week. “It’s really good for us though. I think just coming off of last year that’s something we wanted to improve on …
“He’s really dynamic. He’s quick and he has really good hands. So he makes it tough on you for sure.”