Chad Morton enters his first year as running backs coach for the Chicago Bears. He spent the previous 10 seasons in various roles for the Seattle Seahawks. The seven-year NFL vet also brings 15 years of NFL coaching experience to the Bears.
Morton was originally hired as assistant special teams coach for the Seahawks in 2014. In 2015, he began work with the running backs, and took charge of the running backs room in 2017. In 2022, Morton added the title of run game coordinator.
In 2023, the Seahawks run game leaned heavily on Kenneth Walker III. Despite missing two games, he recorded 219 carries for 905 yards with eight rushing touchdowns. Walker ranked tied for 12th in the NFL in rushes over 10 yards (24), tied for 13th in rushing touchdowns, 14th in rushing yards per game (60.3), tied for 15th in carries, 19th in rushing yards, tied for 22nd in rushing first downs (46) and 23rd in yards per carry (4.13). Rookie running back Zach Charbonnet also ranked 20th in the league in yards per carry (4.28). He finished the year with 108 carries for 462 yards with one rushing touchdown. Charbonnet ranked fourth in rushing yards among rookies in 2023.
Morton's group saw the emergence of Walker in 2022. The rookie took over for Rashaad Penny, who got off to a strong start, including a 151-yard, two-touchdown performance against Detroit. But after averaging 6.1 yards per carry through four-plus games, Penny suffered a season-ending leg injury in Seattle's Week 5 game in New Orleans. Walker assumed the starting role and went on to lead all NFL rookies in rushing yards (1,050), yards from scrimmage (1,215), and touchdowns (9). Walker, the second rookie in franchise history to rush for 1,000 yards, along with Curt Warner, finished a close second in AP Offensive Rookie of the Year voting. Seattle's rushing attack led the NFL with 176.0 yards per game the final three weeks.
In 2021, Chris Carson was limited to just four games due to a neck injury. Alex Collins started six games before Penny put together one of the best stretches of rushing production in franchise history, rushing for 135 yards or more in four of Seattle's final five games, including 170 yards and two touchdowns in Week 17 (vs, Detroit, 1/2), and 190 yards and a score in Week 18 (at Arizona 1/9). Penny's 671 yards over the final five weeks of the season were the most in the NFL over that span, and despite having only 119 carries during the season, his eight rushes of 25 or more yards were tied for most in the NFL (Jonathan Taylor). Penny's 6.3 yards-per-carry average was the best in the NFL.
In 2020, Carson was one of only three players (Kareem Hunt, Alvin Kamara) with four-plus touchdowns (5) and four-plus receiving touchdowns (4) despite playing only 12 games. Carson also set career highs in yards per attempt (4.8), catches (37), and receiving yards (287). Carlos Hyde, DeeJay Dallas and Travis Homer all played significant roles and Penny returned to the field (at Washington, 12/20) for the first time in more than a year after suffering an ACL injury on 12/8/19.
In 2019, Carson ranked 5th in the NFL in rushing yards with a career-high of 1,230 - his second consecutive 1,000 yard season - and added seven rushing touchdowns. He also recorded 37 receptions for 266 yards and three TDs before injuring his hip in week 16 and being placed on injured reserve. Morton's group also lost Penny and C.J. Prosise to IR, forcing sixth-round pick Homer to step up at the end of the season, in addition to the team re-signing Marshawn Lynch in week 17, who ended up scoring a touchdown in week 17 vs. the 49ers and then three more touchdowns in the playoffs.
In 2018, returning from a broken leg suffered in his rookie season, Carson became Seattle's first 1,000-yard rusher since 2014 and just the sixth player in franchise history to accomplish the feat with a career-high 1,151 yards (5th NFL). Seattle's ground game ranked no. 1 in the league (160.0 ypg), rushing for 2,560 yards (third-most in franchise history) and was the fourth team in NFL history to have a 1,000-yard rusher (Carson) and three 300-yard rushers (Mike Davis, Penny, QB Russell Wilson), becoming the first team since the 2001 Steelers.
In 2015, Morton helped the emergence of rookie Tyler Lockett become a first-team AP All-Pro as a return specialist. Lockett became the second player in NFL history (former Chicago Bears running back and Pro Football Hall of Famer Gale Sayers) to return a punt and kickoff for touchdowns and have five receiving touchdowns in a single-season. Lockett returned a kickoff 105 yards for a franchise-record and his 1,915 combined yards are the fourth-most in a season in franchise history, and his 139 punt return yards at Arizona set the club record.
Prior to his time in Seattle, Morton spent five seasons in Green Bay where he contributed to Packers in various aspects of the return game, where Randall Cobb was named a first alternate for the Pro Bowl as a kick returner in 2013. Cobb became the first player in NFL history to have 900-plus kickoff return yards (964) and receiving yards (954) in the same season.
Cobb was also named a Pro Bowl alternate and to the Pro Football Weekly/PFWA All-Rookie team for his efforts as the team's primary returner in 2011. He finished with 34 kickoff returns for 941 yards and a touchdown, and finished the season ranked second in the NFL (first among rookies) with a 27.7 average. Morton helped the Packers win Super Bowl XLV as a special teams assistant.
A seven-year NFL veteran as a player, Morton was a running back and kick/punt returner who began his career with New Orleans in 2000 as a fifth-round draft pick. Serving primarily as a returner as a pro, Morton tallied 5,401 career kickoff-return yards and three kick-return scores, as well as 1,431 career punt-return yards and one score, in 93 career games. He was selected as a Pro Bowl alternate as a returner in 2002 and 2005.
He is the only player in NFL history to return a kickoff for a touchdown in regulation and overtime in the same game (at Buffalo, 9/8/02) and joins Chicago's Dave Williams (at Detroit, 11/27/80) as the only players in NFL history to return a kickoff for a touchdown in overtime. In 2000 with the Saints, Morton tied the NFL single-game playoff record with 13 receptions against the Minnesota Vikings.
Morton was an All-Pac-10 selection at Southern California, where he served as the team's primary running back his final two seasons. He led the team with 1,141 yards and 15 touchdowns on 262 carries as a senior, and he ranks 12th on the Trojans' all-time rushing list with 2,511 career yards. He graduated from USC with a degree in sociology.
