Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte has asked the team to run the ball more often this season as it has a greater effect.

The 29-year-old scored six running touchdowns last season, three down on the 2013 campaign, but scored a career-high 808 receiving yards.

He told the Chicago Sun-Times: "When you run the ball, it's more like an attack feeling. They like smash-mouth football, where you can bloody somebody's nose and run and hit people.

"And then as a running back, you can get rhythm and kind of wear on defences and wear them down, where that pass rush will be a lot less harder in the fourth quarter."

The Bears open the new season against the Green Bay Packers.

Written by
Charlie Bennett