When Matt Forte ran a deep route down the sidelines like a wide receiver and caught a long touchdown pass from Jay Cutler Monday night at practice, it only underscored the numerous threats the Chicago Bears running back presents to a defense.

This year, though, with Mike Tice calling plays, Forte figures to be a little less involved as a receiver than in years past simply because the goal is to keep Jay Cutler protected at all costs.

Former coordinator Mike Martz would leave his linemen pass blocking one-on-one at times, or fail to leave proper backfield protection for the quarterback in case of the blitz in order to get more receivers into a route. Tice is not going to do this.

"I think this year it's more protect the quarterback first," Forte said. "So if I'm called in to protection, I'm not trying to get out as fast right now."

Rather than floating out beyond the pass rushers for a dump-off pass, Forte will stick his nose into the blitzer more than last year. While Forte was away from the team in the off-season, he wasn't certain how his role might change in the new attack. With the Bourbonnais portion of training camp winding up at the end of this week, Forte now knows.

"It's just block everybody else so that Jay can have some time to look downfield and let the receivers do their work," Forte said.

The ideal way to run the offense would be to keep Forte involved, but the Bears offensive line will have to prove it can pass block better than in the preseason opener before that can happen. In the meantime, a back who has never had fewer than 51 catches in a season and never averaged less than 7.6 yards a catch will think block for Cutler before he thinks chase down the short toss and break a big gainer.

Follow Bears reporter Gene Chamberlain on Twitter @CBSSportsNFLCHI.