'Always looking to hit the HR ball,' Bears RB Tarik Cohen shines again

‘Always looking to hit the HR ball,’ Bears RB Tarik Cohen shines again

By Patrick Finley

Bears running back Tarik Cohen had 77 rushing yards Saturday. (AP)

GLENDALE, Ariz. — All eyes are on the quarterbacks, but starter Mike Glennon maintains the Bears’ offense won’t be built around them at all.

“The foundation of our offense is going to be our run game and those guys up front,” Glennon said.

It won’t be limited to Jordan Howard, either. Replacing the Pro Bowl running back Saturday night — Howard was poked in the eye during Friday’s walkthrough, and the Bears didn’t want him exposed to the cabin pressure of an airplane — Tarik Cohen gained 77 yards on 11 carries.

By the end of the night, he ranked third in the league with 58 rushing yards per game this preseason.

Coach John Fox called him explosive, and Glennon declared the 5-6 rookie electric. Once thought to be merely a third-down back, Cohen is proving he can run between the tackles and dance around defenders.

The Bears, meanwhile, should be thinking of ways to give him the ball more, even after Howard returns.

“Being a speedy back with a low center of gravity, I’m hard to tackle,” Cohen said. “It helps, with a combination of good blocking, and I’m always looking to hit the home-run ball.”

His longest run against the Cardinals, a 25-yarder, matched the rushing total of all his teammates combined. Cohen also had two 16-yard runs.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of Cohen’s preseason performance has been how he runs after getting hit.

“That’s just something that I always want to prove,” he said. “Being a smaller back, they always think you’re going to be the type of back to run out of bounds or shy away from contact.

“I like to go the opposite way and be the one to deliver the contact.”

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Email: pfinley@suntimes.com