Bears RB D’Onta Foreman Opens Up About Season: ‘This S*** Business’

Bears Foreman

The Chicago Bears overhauled their offense this past offseason, adding two offensive linemen, a pair of veteran tight ends, and two receivers, including No. 1 option DJ Moore.

Part of that revamp was running back D?Onta Foreman, who signed a one-year contract after stints with the Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans, Tennessee Titans, and Atlanta Falcons. He was seemingly a fitting replacement for the departed David Montgomery.

That has happened, but only sporadically, and not all because of Foreman.

Clocker Sports: ?We’ve talked before about the up-and-down nature of the season. Where are you? How’s that been for you, just being back and forth??

D?Onta Foreman: ?S*****.?

Bears? D?Onta Foreman Seeking Answers Amid ?Surprising? Season

D?Onta Foreman a Victim of Bears? Numbers Game

Incumbent back Khalil Herbert — who is coming off back-to-back 100-plus-yard performances — always figured to get the first crack at leading the backfield. But the Bears, in addition to having a dynamic runner at quarterback in Justin Fields, also drafted a bigger-bodied back in Roschon Johnson in the fourth round of this year’s cycle.

Combine that with a lack of special teams work for Foreman, a role fellow back Travis Homer occupies, and Foreman has been a healthy scratch five times this season, including in Week 17 versus the Falcons.

CS: ?You have been productive, so what you can do out there? Is that something you try to bring up to the coaches, or are you just a person who’s like, ?Alright then. This my role, and I’m going to do what I gotta do.???

DF: ?We haven’t really had no real conversation about it. But I definitely plan on having some type of conversation before it’s all said and done. Just get some clarity about some stuff.?

When healthy, Foreman has produced. He averaged 4.3 yards per carry en route to 351 yards and three touchdowns on the ground, adding another 47 yards and a score through the air in his first five starts of the season. Injuries and personal reasons have kept him out of three contests in total.

?Uncertainty Is The Toughest Part? for D?Onta Foreman

CS: ?Has that been the toughest part about the season: Aside from the struggles that the team has had, you personally having to deal with, not necessarily not playing, but the uncertainty of what your role might be??

DF: ?Yeah, the uncertainty. Uncertainty is the toughest part.?

CS: ?Have your brothers come to you in the running back room to try to help you, keep you up, and stuff like that? Or is it more a thing that you are trying to deal with by yourself??

DF: ?I think some of my teammates ? with the running backs, other teammates ? some people don’t understand it. So I kind of get that a lot. But for the most part, everybody kind of got their own little whatever. So you kind of got to focus on that.?

CS: ?Do you want to be back next year??

DF: ?Do I want to be back? I mean, I want to play football. So if the feeling is mutual, then yeah. But I think based on the way stuff been going, it’s hard to say the feeling would be mutual.?

Foreman started and played into the third quarter against the Cleveland Browns in Week 15. But, after six carries for minus-six yards and issues in pass protection (as did his fellow backs), he ceded carries to Johnson.

He missed practice on December 21 for personal reasons before logging a limited session in the last practice ahead of the Bears? Week 16 win over the Arizona Cardinals. Foreman practiced in full to start the following week, getting removed from the report entirely.

Then came the cryptic post about ?no love? the night before Foreman was made inactive against Atlanta.

D?Onta Foreman Clears Air on Cryptic Social Media Post

CS: ?I saw you fire off that tweet a couple days ago before the game. Was that related to this??

DF: ?It partially had something to do with it. But that wasn’t like the sole reason. I’m a person who sometimes just speaks out loud. I know I don’t always tweet. But I think it was just kind of one of them things to where it’s like I was expressing just in general in life period. No matter what it is. Whether it’s here, whether it’s you at your job, whether it?s whatever. It?s like, man, this s*** business at the end of the day. So it ain’t no love in this s*** we do.

?At the end of the day, it’s all about coming in here, doing what you got to do. And you might be doing everything you got to do to whatever. But, s***, certain situations might be above you, you know what I mean? So it’s like, it ain’t no love in nothing we do in life period.

?It’s like, s***, you could be a great person and do everything, you can still die. And that’s crazy, but it’s no love in this s***.

?You just kind of gotta roll with the punches and make the best out of your opportunities.?

CS: ?Has this been the toughest season for you from that standpoint? I know you?re a guy who had to fight for your opportunities in the beginning anyway.?

DF: ?I wouldn’t say it?s the toughest one. But I would say that it’s probably the most surprising situation, more so. Me not truly understanding why.?

The Bears have a tight-knit locker room, and it encourages players to speak their piece. It’s part of how they weather the storm of the early season. Foreman has also not been one to make waves. But this is a situation that began with plenty of optimism only to turn ambiguous at best.