Matt Forté

Matt Forté

Matt Forté during the 2008 season.
No. 22     Chicago Bears
Running Back
Personal information
Date of birth: 12/10/1985
Place of birth: Lake Charles, Louisiana
Height: 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	Weight: 218 lb (99 kg)
Career information
College: Tulane
NFL Draft: 2008 / Round: 2 / Pick: 44
Debuted in 2008 for the Chicago Bears
Career history
Chicago Bears (2008–present)
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
College awards and honors 2008 Diet Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week (Week 12) 2010 NFC Offensive Player Of The Week (Week 1)
Career NFL statistics as of Week 4, 2011
Rushing yards	3,560
Rushing average	4.1
Rushing TDs	19
Receptions	197
Reception Yards	1,805
Reception TDs	8
Stats at NFL.com

Matthew Garrett Forté (born December 10, 1985 in Lake Charles, Louisiana) is an American football running back for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Bears in the second round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He played college football at Tulane.

Early years

College career

Forté played NCAA Division I college football at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, a member of Conference USA. Forté lettered for four years and played for 3 while pursuing a degree in finance. His junior year was cut short when he suffered an injury in the game against Marshall University. His standout season was his senior year, coming off a knee injury, Forté set several Tulane school records, including rushing for 2,127 yards and 23 touchdowns. He had five 200+ yard rushing games and two 300+ yard games during the 2007 season. Forté was the only non-BCS athlete to be a semifinalist for both the Maxwell and Doak Walker Awards and to make the Walter Camp Player of the Year List, and one of just 3 players nationally to be named to all three lists.

Senior Bowl

Forté garnered the most buzz at the 2008 Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, and walked away with the Overall MVP award. He led with 59 yards rushing on 8 carries; 4 receptions for 38 yards and a tackle on special teams.

Awards and honors

• Conference USA All-Freshman (2004)
• 2× All-Conference USA (2005, 2007)
• Third-team AP All-American (2007)
• Doak Walker Award semifinalist (2007)
• Maxwell Award semifinalist (2007)
• Senior Bowl MVP (2008)

Professional career

2008

Pre-draft measureables
Wt	40yd	20ss	Vert	BP
217 lb	4.46s	4.23s	33"	23

(All results are from the 2008 NFL Combine)^[1]

Forté takes a handoff from Kyle Orton.

The Chicago Bears drafted Forté in the second round of the 2008 NFL Draft as the forty-fourth overall selection. He was originally drafted to compete with Cedric Benson and Adrian Peterson for the team's starting running back position. However, Benson was released from the Bears after struggling with legal issues, leaving Forté to compete with Peterson and second-year running back Garrett Wolfe. Forté made his regular season debut on September 7, 2008, against the Indianapolis Colts. He carried the ball 23 times for 123 yards (setting a franchise record for most yards gained in a running back debut) and scored his first career touchdown on a then-career long 50 yard run en route to a 29-13 victory over the Colts. His efforts earned him Sunday Night Football’s “Horse Trailer Player of the Game” award.

Forté became the first Chicago Bears running back to rush for over 1,000 yards in his rookie season since Anthony Thomas rushed for 1,183 yards in 2001. He would finish with 1,238 yards rushing on the year as well as finishing with 1,715 yards from scrimmage (Rushing and Receiving). This was good enough for third in the entire league and it broke Hall of Famer Gale Sayer's former team record of 1,374 in 1965. Forté led all rookie running backs in total yards and receptions.^[2] He received one vote for the National Football League Rookie of the Year Award, finishing behind Ryan Clady, Chris Johnson, and Matt Ryan.^[3]

2009

Forté recorded 271 yards over the first four games of the 2009 season.^[4] He had his first big game of the season during Week 4, against the Detroit Lions, during which he rushed for 121 yards, and scored his first touchdown of the season.^[4]

2010

In 2010, Matt Forté was backed up by fellow running back Chester Taylor. In a preseason game against the Oakland Raiders, Forté ran for an 89-yard touchdown, which would have been the longest run in Bears history if it had occurred during a regular season game. In Week 1 of the 2010 season, Matt Forté had two receiving touchdowns, one of 89 and one of 28, the latter of which was the game-winner. Forté was named NFC offensive player of the week for Week 1. In Week 5 against the Carolina Panthers, Forté had touchdown runs of 18 and 68 yards, the latter a career long, on the way to 166 total rushing yards on the day. Forté was named FedEx Ground Player of the Week for this week.

In Week 11, during the season's first Thursday Night Football game, playing on the road against the Miami Dolphins, Forté rushed for 97 yards on 25 carries and scored the game's only touchdown on a 2-yard run in the 4th quarter as the Bears shutout the Dolphins, 16-0.

2011

On October 2, 2011, Forté rushed for a career high 205 yards and 1 touchdown in the Week 4 match up against the Carolina Panthers. Entering the team's week 8 bye, Forte has rushed for 672 yards and has 38 receptions for 419 yards, leading the Chicago Bears in both categories. He also leads the NFL in total yards. In a November 7 game against the Eagles, Forté, along with Herschel Walker, became the only players to have 700 rushing yards and 400 receiving yards in his first 4 seasons.

Personal life

Forté earned a degree in Finance from Tulane University in May 2009.^[5] In his spare time, Forté enjoys playing video games, especially Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Halo 3 for the Xbox 360.^[6] Forté was also the runner up in the 2008 Rookie Madden Bowl, finishing second to Devin Thomas.^[7] Forté followed his father who played for the Green Wave at Tulane University in the 1970s.

References

1. ^ "2008 NFL Combine Stats: Running Backs". footballsfuture.com. http://www.footballsfuture.com/2008/combineRB.html. Retrieved 2008-03. 
2. ^ Kalafa, Jeff (2008-12-12). "Top Rookie Running Backs....Matt Forté, Chris Johnson, Steve Slaton Lead Group". Bleacher Report. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/92349-top-rookie-running-backsmatt-forte-chris-johnson-steve-slaton-lead-group. Retrieved 2009-01-04. 
3. ^ Henry, George (2008-12-31). "Ryan marvels at Brady, Manning, Favre". Yahoo! Sports. http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AmzlHZOx6QNa_tNPDCh3wvhDubYF?slug=ap-apoffensiverookie&prov=ap&type=lgns. Retrieved 2009-01-04. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "Matt Forte - Chicago Bears - Game Log - NFL". Yahoo! Sports. 2009. http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/8821/gamelog;_ylt=AipPE7SfQlFAu2vtp1E6V0D.uLYF. Retrieved 2009-10-11. 
5. ^ Mayer, Larry (2009-05-11). "Forte hits books to earn finance degree from Tulane". chicagobears.com. http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=5815. Retrieved 2009-05-11. 
6. ^ Bunting, Wes. "Matt Forte Interview". NFL Smackdown. http://www.nflsmackdown.com/index.php?Itemid=1&id=524&option=com_content&task=view. Retrieved 2009-05-11. 
7. ^ Edholm, Eric (2008-05-17). "Devin Thomas over Matt Forte in Madden 08". Pro-Football Weekly. http://nflblogs.profootballweekly.com/AroundtheNFL/2008/05/devin_thomas_over_matt_forte_i.html. Retrieved 2009-05-11. 

External links

• Official Website
• Chicago Bears bio
• Tulane Green Wave bio

Sporting positions