Anyone expecting the Bears to be in the running back trade market as buyers will come away disappointed with what Ben Johnson had to say when the Bears convened for Monday practice.

Although the running game has struggled, he’s not laying it at their feet.

When asked if they would be looking to upgrade, the answer was no.

“Our guys are going to be fine,” Johnson said. “It’s not always the runners. It’s everybody. It’s the quarterback carrying out his fake, it’s the receivers blocking down the field, it’s the tight ends doing their job and the same thing with the offensive line.

“I think there’s a lot of times on that tape we’re not giving our runners a chance. I think we’re going to be fine there.”

With D’Andre Swift averaging 3.3 yards per carry as the starter and Kyle Monangai 3.6 as the backup, it hardly seems like a reason for optimism. And Johnson did acknowledge this was one of the key points in need of improvement during his self-scout during the bye week.

It doesn’t mean a trade, though.

“The running game, you know, I’ve kind of alluded to it over the course of training camp,” Johnson said. “It’s going to take a ittle bit of time for our guys  to all mesh together and I think that’s what the tape looks like right now.

“We’re just not firing on all cylinders yet. Sometimes it can be the ball carrier not hitting the right spot. Other times it’s just our combinations (blocks) aren’t clean yet.”

The lack of a power back for Johnson’s attack has often been cited as a problem by critics of how the team was constructed. They haven’t really given Roschon Johnson a chance yet, at first due to injury.

Whether that’s part of the answer isn’t known yet. Kyle Monangai could get more work still, but ultimately the Bears’ backs are going to have to run through tackles better than they have because as Johnson said, there’s no help coming other than possibly veteran Travis Homer, who is slated to have his 21-day practice window open for reinstatement from injured reserve.

Of course, the cynical could listen to what Johnson says about liking his running backs and say he has to talk this way. But anyone who has listened to him throughout training camp and the offseason as well as the start to this season knows he’s very up front about these types of things. If he can’t say something, he won’t. But a comment like saying he doesn’t need backs is very telling.