CHICAGO — The importance of committing to the running game has been staring the Chicago Bears in the face all week while watching game film of Thursday’s night’s opponent, the Dallas Cowboys.

The only film the Bears (5-7) really needed was their Thanksgiving Day loss to the Detroit Lions, when they were still in the game into the third quarter but wound up with a 17-point loss as they compiled the fewest rushing attempts (8) in franchise history.

“As I look back, there’s a lot of different things that go into that,” coach Marc Trestman said. “The only thing I could say is we didn’t run it enough. We would have liked to run it more. It didn’t happen that way, and we’ve got to move forward to Dallas.

“We could have that discussion forever. We need to run the ball more than we did. The opportunity that we have against Dallas is to proceed forward and do a better job of putting balance in our attack, which opens up a lot of different things for us and has a residual effect on the defensive line as you move forward in the game.”

The game plan against Detroit represented only one of several problems the offense has experienced this year, but if the Bears are to stay mathematically alive in the NFC playoff hunt, then it’s one they’ll obviously need to change.

The effects of playing on offense without a running attack against Detroit were obvious, and they trickled down to quarterback Jay Cutler.

“Their front four were pinning their ears back,” said Bears running back Matt Forte, who had 6 yards rushing. “They didn’t have anything to do but pass rush. They’re not respecting the run and then if you play fake, they’re not going take the play fake because you haven’t been running the ball. Its’ a big part of the play-action game, to keep the defense off of keying on exactly what to do, whether it’s pass rush or trying to stop the run.”

It wasn’t just the front four from Detroit that was at ease teeing off on the Bears offense. When the Bears tried play-action against the Lions without establishing a running attack, the linebackers had fun, as well.

“You look at some of the play-actions against Detroit, they’re flying, they’re getting underneath our stuff,” Cutler said. “They get paid, too, they’re smart players.”

Trestman’s play-calling has taken hits at various times throughout the season. The game plan last week has begun to look like it did during the short era Gary Crowton was Bears offensive coordinator under former coach Dick Jauron. It has been one screen pass after another, and while the pass can sometimes be an extension of the running game, it’s not quite the same thing. And Trestman knows it.

“As I told the team, we don’t have to run the ball for seven yards a carry,” he said. “Running the football has a residual effect on a lot of different things. It helps your movement game, it helps your play-action game. It does all those things. It gives your guys a chance to come off (the ball). We all know these things. And so we’ll try to do more of that.”

There have been promises like this throughout the season. The lack of rushing attempts was questioned after the Bears ran 18 times in a season-opening loss to Buffalo. It happened again after they ran it only 14 times in a loss to Miami at home Oct. 19.

They got away with running it 17 times in beating San Francisco and 21 times in a win over the Jets.

The right numbers can’t always be achieved when a team falls behind, but an attempt goes a long way.

“You want to have some balance even if it’s … numbers-wise it’s not as balanced as you want it to be, if you’re running the ball efficiently and giving the illusion that you’re going to run the ball it definitely helps,” Cutler said.

The Cowboys (8-4) realized this and have enjoyed tremendous success by taking the ball out of quarterback Tony Romo’s hands and giving it to DeMarco Murray.

“It’s had a big effect on Tony Romo,” Trestman said. “He’s thrown the ball much less than he has. They’ve got a whole list of runs, of different types of runs. They’ve got the line that they’re able to do that. They’re doing all different kinds of run-game plays. It’s helped their action.

“He’s got a 100-plus rating, which is excellent. He’s throwing the ball less, which is helping this football team. I think that’s just the direction they decided to go, and it’s worked out. They’ve got more balance in their attack.”

Besides all this, the Dallas defense invites a team to run. Cutler hasn’t been able to throw deep against zones like Dallas employs, anyway, and former Bears defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli witnessed his Dallas defense run on by Philadelphia last week for 256 yards. The Cowboys rank 22nd against the run, and injuries have made them more susceptible to rushing attacks.

“We’ve run against them before,” Forte said. “We ran against them last year and actually had a big play out there against them, had some good downfield blocking on that one play. I think it was like 60 yards. And some of the other runs were really good against them too.

“Just this last game, we didn’t run the ball at all. We didn’t really get a chance to establish it.”

Now it’s up to the Bears to do more than pay lip service to the running attack.

SERIES HISTORY: 23rd regular-season meeting. Series is tied 11-11. The Bears have won the last three, each by seven points or more.

NOTES: CB Chris Williams is out with a hamstring injury that he suffered Nov. 16. Williams has been every game since that contest against Minnesota. Marc Mariani continues to handle those duties with Williams out. … K Robbie Gould missed Tuesday’s practice with a quad injury. Punter Pat O’Donnell practiced some place-kicking but the Bears aren’t saying Gould will miss Thursday’s game, or if they might sign a place-kicker for that game rather than use O’Donnell. … WR Alshon Jeffery missed practice Tuesday with a hamstring injury. His absence meant more snaps in practice for WR Marquess Wilson, but coach Marc Trestman said Jeffery’s missing practice was more precautionary and he’s expected to play Thursday. … S Chris Conte practiced on a limited basis due to the eye injury he suffered against Detroit. He had missed Monday’s practice.