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After making a big splash, Tarik Cohen has become an afterthought in the Bears’ offense. (Getty Images)

Tarik Cohen has as many targets in last 5 games as he did in debut

Whatever happened to Tarik Cohen? You remember, that little guy on the Bears who took the NFL by storm in Week 1 with 158 all-purpose yards.

In his debut against the Falcons, Cohen rushed five times for 66 yards, caught 8 passes for 47 yards and a touchdown and added 45 yards on three punt returns.

But lately, Cohen’s lucky if he’s in the game, much less touching the ball. In the loss to the Packers on Sunday, Cohen was on the field for just 13 plays from scrimmage.

The 5-6 dynamo has gone from being called “the best playmaker we have” by offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains to not being called at all.

After the victory over the Ravens, Loggains said Cohen is “a guy who we’ll continue to use.”

Here are his snap counts since that game: 18, 7 and 13. It adds up to about 20 percent playing time.

If you ask Bears coaches about Cohen’s diminished usage, they offer a myriad of reasons, everything from he’s not a a good pass blocker to the opponents are double-teaming him. (Well, wouldn’t you want him in the game, then, to take on a double team and help create space for one of the other receivers that NEVER get open?)

Consider this stat: In his debut, Cohen was targeted by Glennon 12 times, but since Mitch Trubisky took over at quarterback five games ago, Cohen has been targeted a total of 12 times. He has caught one pass in each of those five games.

Glennon targeted Cohen 17 times during his next three games. Trubisky has never targeted Cohen more than three times.

Cohen, who has made a career of being overlooked, is taking it all in stride. When asked about drawing double teams in the NFL, Cohen harkened back to his college days when he said, “I felt like I was 11-teamed the whole game.”

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