Team, fans agree: Jeremy Langford is Bears running back of the future

By Rob Ogden

Matt Forte returned to action Thursday for the first time since Week 8, but the return could be short-lived if fans on Twitter are right.

An overwhelming majority of fans voted that 2015 will be Forte’s final season in Chicago. The soon-to-be 30-year-old running back will be a free agent following this season.

Is this Matt Forte's final season with the Bears?
— Sun-Times Sports (@suntimes_sports) November 24, 2015

Despite the belief Forte is gone after this season, Bears fans still consider him to be Chicago’s best option. In a separate poll, fans favored Forte when asked who would gain more total yards during Thursday’s game against Green Bay.

Which #Bears running back will have more total yards during tomorrow's game at Green Bay?
— Sun-Times Sports (@suntimes_sports) November 25, 2015

It ended in a tie as both Forte and Jeremy Langford went for 53 total yards in the 17-13 win at Lambeau Field. Langford got the touchdown.

Forte played 55 percent of the snaps Thursday while Langford played 50 percent, according to ESPN.

NFL insider Ian Rapoport said this week that Forte is the starter in name only:

He is expected to be the starter — mainly because of his veteran status — but I am told he will be the starter in name only, Rapoport said on NFL Network. The plan is to have a two-headed monster, two rotated backs, because Jeremy Langford did impress and inside the organization, they believe that he is the future at running back. And in fact, not just the future but the present because they think he is better suited for this offense and more explosive. That 83-yard screen pass … he took to the house (in Week 10), they think for Forte that would have just been a 30-yarder.

Langford, a fourth-round pick in 2015, has 530 total yards and seven touchdowns this season.