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The Bears bring a two-game winning streak into this Sunday’s home game against the Broncos and rookie running back Jeremy Langford has played a major role in each of the victories.

Langford has run for 145 yards on 38 carries and caught 10 passes for 179 yards while scoring three touchdowns in place of Matt Forte, who has missed the contests with a knee injury. That’s made it hard not to think about Langford as the heir apparent to Forte in the Chicago offense, especially with Forte’s contract coming to an end after this season.

Forte has been around the league long enough to understand that some people don’t even want to wait that long before installing Langford into the role Forte’s played since 2008.

“The fans are the fans,” Forte said, via the Chicago Sun-Times. “The NFL is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately [league]. I’ve been out a few games and Jeremy has done well stepping in for me. So everybody is always looking for the next best thing. With [me] being in my contract year, it’s obvious that that’s the storyline that will come up. Chicago is kind of like that: ‘Well, see ya later, Matt.’ I’m like, ‘Man, I’ve been here going on eight years — y’all just going to throw me to the side like that?’ But that’s the nature of the NFL. And I don’t mind. I will play wherever I end up after that.”

Forte’s take is a realistic one. There was a decent chance that the Bears would have let Forte move on even if he’d remained healthy all season. Langford’s appearances only make it likelier that they’ll choose to spend money elsewhere while Forte tries to be the next big thing in some other town.