Coming into this season, there was some hope that the Chicago Bears would turn things around after they finished with the worst record in the NFL in 2022.
They had traded the No. 1 pick in April’s draft to the Carolina Panthers and obtained wide receiver D.J. Moore, and the thinking was that Moore’s production and reliability would help quarterback Justin Fields emerge as a quality player in his third season.
But Fields has been largely the same player he was in his first two seasons, and thus Chicago is stuck with a 3-7 record and virtually no shot at making the playoffs.
If they do have a strength, it’s their running game, which has operated largely by committee this season.
On Thursday, the Bears reportedly waived running back Darrynton Evans, per Dov Kleiman.
#Bears have waived RB Darrynton Evans. pic.twitter.com/qje25UjERe
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) November 16, 2023
In five games this year, Evans has 105 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown while averaging 3.5 yards per rushing attempt.
A former third-round draft pick who put up 1,480 yards and 18 touchdowns on the ground in his last year at Appalachian State University, this is the first season in which he has run for as many as 100 yards.
The Bears have six players who have gone over 100 rushing yards so far this season, including Fields, who is at 237 rushing yards.
However, Fields’ production on the ground has dropped greatly — last season he ran for 1,143 yards and eight touchdowns while leading the NFL with 7.1 yards per rushing attempt.
He also averaged 76.2 rushing yards a game in 2022, while this year he’s at just 39.5 rushing yards per contest.
NEXT: Justin Fields Shares His Expectations For Final Stretch Of The Season
