Bears’ 2026 training camp position preview turns to the running back room built around D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai

The Chicago Bears’ 2026 training camp position previews begin with the running back group, with the team framing the spotlight around two players expected to define the room: veteran D’Andre Swift and second-year pro Kyle Monangai. In the Bears’ own outlook, the pairing is described as having already grown into one of the league’s more productive tandems in 2025, setting the table for what the team hopes becomes a more polished second act as camp approaches.

The Bears’ preview is the second of nine position breakdowns released ahead of training camp, a weekly-style series that indicates which units the staff plans to emphasize in early evaluation. By putting the running backs early in the sequence, the team is effectively telling its audience, and its personnel, that the backfield’s rhythm and roles matter as much as any schematic tweak during the preseason window.

Swift and Monangai returning together is the core storyline. The Bears characterize the pair as having established a connection through the 2025 season, and that continuity becomes the foundation for camp goals in 2026. In practical terms, the value of a second season together is consistency in pass protection habits, route awareness for backs who get involved in the passing game, and a clearer sense of how each player fits when the offense needs tempo changes or different run-game looks.

The Bears did not limit the discussion to one-player spotlighting. Instead, the preview is organized around the position group as a whole, indicating the staff’s intent to use camp as the first true sorting mechanism of the year. That usually includes determining how carries and touch patterns should be distributed, which backs can handle specific down-and-distance roles, and how the unit performs as a stable group rather than as individual run segments.

At the same time, training camp is where a team’s depth chart can still shift quickly, even when the top part of the rotation looks established. The preview’s emphasis on a duo suggests Chicago expects productive overlap between Swift’s experience and Monangai’s upward swing from year one to year two. But camp’s day-to-day reality, including reps in different formations and situations, is typically where coaches confirm whether that overlap translates into repeatable performance.

The key question for Bears fans is not only whether Swift and Monangai can produce again, but whether the offense can keep its backfield identity intact while defenses adjust. A “tandem” approach often means defenses face different run looks at the same time, which can open the playbook for screens, short-yardage runs, and play-action concepts that rely on the backs being trustworthy in multiple phases.

As the Bears continue releasing the remaining position previews, the running backs item offers a benchmark for how the team plans to connect pieces. The next steps to watch are how the quarterback and offensive line previews describe the timing and protection rules that shape backfield opportunities, and whether the Bears’ later pages tie the camp focus back to the run-pass balance they want in 2026.