CHICAGO — The stunning part of the Chicago Bears’ thumping of the Philadelphia Eagles last season on Black Friday wasn’t some kind of X’s and O’s clinic with up-and-coming play caller Ben Johnson outmaneuvering crafty defensive czar Vic Fangio.

Had that been the case, it probably would have been easier for Fangio and the Eagles to accept. Even Fangio, in his 40th NFL season, will admit sometimes the best-laid plans can be thwarted.

In this case, the Bears marched into Lincoln Financial Field, a block off Broad Street where the “Broad Street Bullies” were born in the early 1970s with the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers, and they shoved around the Eagles. A fan base that celebrates the blue-collar grind in a city known for grit, toughness and “Rocky” watched the Bears offensive line steamroll the Eagles.

Kyle Monangai rushed for 130 yards and D’Andre Swift added 120. When it was all over, the Bears had 47 carries for 281 yards. They enjoyed almost a 2-1 advantage in time of possession, holding the ball for 39 minutes, 18 seconds. It was the second-most rushing attempts by the Bears in 30 seasons and the second-most yards ever allowed by a Fangio defense. Fangio was the coordinator of a 2-14 Houston Texans team in 2005 that surrendered 320 rushing yards to the Seattle Seahawks.

That Texans team had roster holes aplenty. The Eagles have a formidable defense with tackles Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis in the middle and a strong group of linebackers and defensive backs.

Maybe that’s one explanation why there hasn’t been panic at Halas Hall this week with the Bears in a spot where they’re likely choosing between No. 3 quarterback Case Keenum or No. 2 Tyson Bagent after the latter missed practices Wednesday and Friday.

Whichever quarterback gets the nod — even if it’s the 38-year-old Keenum, who hasn’t appeared in an NFL game since 2023 — maybe the Bears can lean into the offensive line and running game again.

“They are one of the better running teams in the league,” Fangio told Philadelphia media Wednesday. “They’ve got a really great O-line, great backs. Their scheme is good. We’re going to have to play it a whole lot better.”

It’s a fascinating chess match no matter who is at quarterback for the Bears. A year ago, the Bears determined in the scouting process that their offensive line presented an opportunity to really challenge the Eagles. It worked better than they could have hoped.

Fangio has long been one of the top defensive craftsmen in the league. He prefers to start from a two-high shell and features a lot of rotation while often attempting to stop the run with a light box. It’s possible if you have top-tier talent, and when achieved it makes it easier to eliminate explosive plays on the back end.

The Eagles are unlikely to load the line of scrimmage with seven defenders like the Minnesota Vikings did last week when they thwarted the Bears running game. It would be a huge departure from Fangio’s history if they blitz like mad.

But the Eagles have a pair of super-talented defensive tackles in Carter and Davis, and we’ll see if training camp practices against Cincinnati’s Dexter Lawrence and Tennessee’s Jeffery Simmons prepared the Bears for the moment.

“The strength of that group is right there in front of you,” offensive line coach Dan Roushar said. “Last year was last year. I don’t think that is the Eagles defense we anticipate seeing in any fashion. I think we’ll get everything and then something.”

The Bears ran roughshod on the Eagles last season after making the determination their offensive line was better than the vaunted Philadelphia defensive front. They did so with a huge array of presnap motion that created numbers to the play side, angles and confusion.

Offensive coordinator Press Taylor believes Johnson has been able to expand on it this season after spending long hours meeting with defensive coaches in the offseason and seeing how motion affected that side of the ball.

Johnson shifted installations with presnap movement to the start of training camp this summer so the offense could get it down and give the defense more exposure to it. The Bears were seventh in the league in utilizing presnap motion (61%) last season, and while their numbers aren’t as high this season, the sample size remains small.

“It doesn’t cost a lot for us to say, ‘Hey, you start here and you’re going to move over there before we snap the ball,'” Taylor said. “It’s a change of strength. It’s a change of passing strength. It causes communication. Instead of this player blitzing, that player is going to blitz. They’ve got to get 11 coordinated on the same page for that once we’re on the move.”

Center Garrett Bradbury refers to presnap motion as “eye candy” and says it’s one of the ways an offense can create the illusion of complexity. There are almost limitless ways a core running play in Johnson’s playbook can be executed when you consider the number of personnel groupings and formations that can be used with the quarterback under center, in the shotgun or pistol. Add in different motions and there are literally dozens of ways to run the same play.

“The challenging part for us is making sure we are right on the communication with IDs as guys are flowing through the defense,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “But you see some teams that are super stagnant now and they struggle in the run game and it’s like, ‘Well, you’ve got to move guys around a little bit.'”

Maybe the Bears will get the Eagles moving around again. It could be the key to another big game running the ball, and that’s a huge aid no matter who is playing quarterback.

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