CHICAGO - Kyle Monangai rushed for 146 yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries and the Chicago Bears shut down the New York Jets in a 23-12 victory Sunday at Soldier Field. Tyson Bagent became the third quarterback to start and win a game for the Bears this season, but the story of the day was the Chicago running game. The Bears finished with 54 carries for 232 yards, with starter D'Andre Swift complementing Monangai's big day with 58 yards on 15 carries. "I love it. I love it," Monangai said of his Sunday workload. "Coach (Eric Studesville) kept checking on me throughout the game. I said, 'I'm good. Let's roll.'" Bears third-string quarterback Case Keenum, who led them to a win last Monday night, was on the field along with Bagent on Chicago's first play from scrimmage, but Bagent took it from there. He finished 25-for-34 for 268 yards, no touchdowns and an interception. The Jets struggled to get anything going offensively, particularly the passing game. Quarterback Geno Smith started 5-for-11 for 44 yards before hitting on a couple of big plays in the fourth quarter, including a 58-yard TD pass to receiver Isaiah Williams. Smith finished 8-for-15 for 119 yards. Running back Braelon Allen, filling in for the injured Breece Hall, rushed 14 times for 59 yards. Box score | Week 4 live coverage | Game discussion The Bears leaned into their running game Sunday How dangerous is the D'Andre Swift-Kyle Monanagai duo? Tyson Bagent's first-half interception was a bit ugly - not enough zip and too far behind tight end Colston Loveland on a pass over the middle that found Jets safety Minkah Fitzpatrick instead. That was a costly giveaway that the Jets quickly turned into three points. But if we've learned anything about Ben Johnson in his 21 regular-season games as Bears head coach, it's that his dedication to the running game remains the engine of what his offense does. So it was little surprise that the Bears leaned into that strength on their ensuing possession, running the ball eight times on 10 snaps on the way to a response field goal drive. And the Bears were just getting started. The Bears entered Sunday with the league's most productive rushing attack (184.3 yards per game) and spiked that average against a strong Jets defense. Their 232 yards on the ground marked the fifth time in the Johnson era they have topped 200 rushing yards in a game. They wound up with 54 total rushing attempts and finished the game with an 18-play sleeper hold that milked the final 9:16 off the clock. "This is a great feeling," Bears guard Jonah Jackson said. "You can feel the air getting sucked out of the defense after a while - just the wearing and tearing on them. They're trying to get guys in and out. But it wasn't working to their favor." Sure, there's work to be done. And the Bears' inability Sunday to cash in in the low red zone - they were 2-for-4 scoring touchdowns on possessions where they had first-and-goal. But this is a group that has established its identity as a punishing ground-and-pound team. One more footnote: Monangai is now on pace for 1,377 rushing yards this season, in line to become the fifth back Johnson has propelled to a 1,000-yard rushing season in as many seasons. Swift, who had a career-best 1,087 rushing yards last season, is on pace for 1,322. - Dan Wiederer, Bears beat writer What was the biggest problem with the Jets' passing offense Sunday? Smith had about as good of a three-game stretch to start a season as any Jets quarterback in recent memory - an admittedly low bar. Sunday, he looked more like Justin Fields for most of the afternoon. By the time Smith finally aired it out and made a couple of nice throws in a row in the fourth quarter - a 14-yard completion to Garrett Wilson immediately followed by his 58-yard touchdown strike to Williams - it was too late. That cut a 23-6 lead to 23-12, then Jason Sanders missed the extra point. Before that touchdown throw, Smith had completed 6 of 13 passes for 47 yards as the Jets offense rarely made headway after watching the defense suffer a slow death against the Bears' rushing attack. Late in the game, it seemed that Smith's hand or wrist was bothering him, but that didn't prevent him from completing that deep pass to Williams. That 14-yard completion was also only Wilson's fourth target of the day, and first-round rookie tight end Kenyon Sadiq had four targets but zero catches. This was the bad version of Smith (minus any turnovers) that the Jets hadn't seen yet. The offensive line didn't help matters as Smith was frequently under duress and sacked three times - but he also held on to the ball too long on a few occasions. - Zack Rosenblatt How did Tyson Bagent perform as the third Bears QB to start in the last three games? With the way the Bears defense played, Bagent didn't have to play hero ball. He was incredibly efficient to start the game before an interception almost changed the trajectory of the game. But he was the Bagent we're used to - calm under pressure, got the ball out quickly, and usually accurate. It wasn't the prettiest performance, and considering the long-term ramifications of the opportunity to start, Bagent - who's uber-competitive - probably hoped for more, but he had some big-time throws to receiver Rome Odunze and tight end Colston Loveland, ultimately finishing with 268 passing yards while distributing the ball to eight pass catchers. The Bears dominated time of possession, ran more plays in the first half than they had in any game this century, and a lot of that was due to Bagent's operation and ability to move the sticks on third down. He'll want the interception back, and the Jets helped out with some defensive penalties, but overall, Bagent was impressive in doing the most important element of his job, helping the Bears get a win. "Tyson's earned the right to be our No. 2 quarterback and we had a lot of confidence in him; he played really well today," Johnson said. "Efficient with the football, obviously had the one pick, left the ball a little bit behind where he'd like to go with it, but other than that he had a great job with the operation." - Kevin Fishbain, Bears beat writer Who won the duel of former Lions coordinators? Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn used to battle in practice in their jobs with the Lions on Dan Campbell's staff. Both have said that it made them better coaches. Sunday, Johnson was clearly the better coach. The Bears absolutely dominated the time of possession (42:45-17:15), grinding out yards in the running game and wearing down a Jets defense that isn't flush with top-end talent anyway. The Jets forced two turnovers and a turnover on downs and only came away with six points on two field goals from those possessions. There was little to no pass rush up front to speak of. No. 2 overall pick David Bailey was invisible and cornerback Brandon Stephens struggled to contain Bears wide receivers. "For your defense to go out there and play damn near 90 plays, with the offense getting something like 30 plays - man, it's tough to get something going in that situation," Glenn said. It never felt like the Jets were putting up any resistance in particular, and the only players to really make a noticeable impact were safeties Dane Belton and Minkah Fitzpatrick, plus the forced fumble from linebacker Jamien Sherwood. It's not as if the Bears are some dominant offensive front, or at least they shouldn't be against a Jets team that has invested in their defensive line quite a bit in the last year. They were missing outside linebacker Kingsley Enagbare, but it'd be hard to believe that he would've made a material difference Sunday. Monangai in particular gashed the Jets' rush defense. It certainly didn't help that the Jets offense largely went nowhere, but the defense did them no favors, especially early in the game when the Jets offense barely had the ball in the first quarter. - Rosenblatt