Benny Sieu-US PRESSWIRE
The Chicago Bears star running back Matt Forte left the game early on Thursday night against the Green Bay Packers with what is believed to be a high ankle sprain.
Forte injured his ankle on the opening drive of the second half, as his ankle bent awkwardly under a tackle from Charles Woodson off of a 15 yard reception.
Whilst the official party line out of the Bears camp is that the extent of the injury is unknown. The belief however is that Forte has a high ankle sprain, which if true, could keep him out of action for up to 4 weeks.
It is clear that Forte is an important cog in the offensive machine in Chicago. He is the only player in NFL history to rush for 800+ yards and catch for 400+ receiving yards in his first four seasons in the league.
The brief spell that it looks as if Forte will be out for really shouldn’t effect the Bears season all that much. The only team that should really challenge the Bears over the next 4 weeks is the Dallas Cowboys.
With all due respect to the St. Louis Rams
and the Jacksonville Jaguars, if the Bears can’t beat them without Forte then the prospect of playoff football for the Bears this season is bleak.
On top of this, rookie GM Phil Emery brought in Michael Bush during free agency for this exact reason. Bush has been one of the premiere No. 2 running backs in the NFL.
He ran for 977 yards in 2011, most of these (839 yards) came after Oakland Raiders starter Darren McFadden was injured. During his time filling in as the number one back, Bush averaged 83.9 rushing yards a game. He also had an extra 319 receiving yards (418 yards in total for the season).
It is clear to everyone that Bush does not bring the same tools to the table that Forte does, but during the time it takes Forte to recover fully from his injury, Bush should supply adequate cover to keep the running game on track. The Bears on the other hand will need to put their thrashing at the hands of the Packers Defense behind them in order to figure out a way of getting their passing offense pack on track.
