These days, running games are rarely built around one player. Granted, they do still exist. You have studs like Jonathan Taylor, Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley, and Bijan Robinson putting their teams on their back. However, most of the time, it’s more of a two-man committee approach. That is what the Chicago Bears implemented last season under new head coach Ben Johnson. He paired veteran D’Andre Swift with 7th round rookie Kyle Monangai. Not much was expected of the pair.
Swift had been a solid player over the year, but nobody saw him as a true primary back. Monangai was highly productive for Rutgers in college, but most saw him as an average talent. That didn’t stop them from pacing the Bears to the 3rd-best rushing attack in the NFL. Together, they combined for 1,870 yards and 14 touchdowns. This was enough to earn them the fourth spot on Sports Illustrated’s top five running back tandems in the NFL. Quite an accomplishment.
4. Chicago Bears: D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai
With Ben Johnson as the team’s coach, the Bears were expected to run the ball effectively after watching him scheme up Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery in Detroit. As it turns out, those expectations were correct.
Chicago ran its way to the NFC North title with an 11–6 record behind Swift and Monangai, with the former rushing for 1,087 yards while the latter, a seventh-round rookie, picked up 783 yards. No back who ranked second in rushing yards on his own team had more than Monangai.
Going into 2026, the Bears are hoping quarterback Caleb Williams becomes the first man in franchise history to throw for 4,000 yards. If he does, that’ll open up the rushing lanes even more for Swift and Monangai as Johnson’s scheme expands in his second campaign with Chicago.
Did Swift and Monangai get robbed?
You could make the case. The tandem that took the #1 spot was Kyren Williams and Blake Corum in Los Angeles. This is understandable. They produced more yards and touchdowns than the Bears’ duo last season and beat them in the playoffs. However, the real issue lay with the #3 and #2 spots. These were given to Travis Etienne and Alvin Kamara of New Orleans and Rico Dowdle and Jaylen Warren of Pittsburgh. On paper, both sound imposing. There is just one problem.
Neither group has actually played together yet.
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Etienne was signed by the Saints this past spring. The same was true of Dowdle with the Steelers. It feels like this list is leaning too much into projection and name value compared to actual productivity as a duo. Throwing two names together doesn’t automatically lead to major success. We know Swift and Monangai are good because they proved it last season. Projection should not enter into rankings. Yet that appears to be what has happened in this case.
They certainly have an incentive now.
The Bears made it clear that they believe in D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai when they didn’t make any notable moves at running back the entire offseason. Head coach Ben Johnson likes what the two bring to the table and feels they can do it again in 2026. With his rushing scheme and a talented offensive line, this isn’t a terrible assumption. Neither player is in danger of getting too old and their understanding of the system will be even higher than before. The big question will be how hard defenses try to stop them.
Running the ball was Chicago’s bread and butter last season. Opponents will certainly have scouted that this offseason. They may start loading the box in an effort to stop it. Unfortunately for them, that will leave more open throwing windows for Caleb Williams. This isn’t the old days where teams could just stymie the run and dare the Bears to win by throwing the ball. Williams is too good of a player for that strategy to work unless you have that much confidence in your secondary to cover everybody.
