Chicago Bears: Easing in David Montgomery is wise

The Chicago Bears were buzzing about David Montgomery in the preseason. His limited action opening night was head-scratching but wise in the long run.

During opening night of the 2019 NFL season, the Chicago Bears met the Green Bay Packers. The league wanted the oldest rivalry in the 100-year history of the NFL to celebrate reaching the century mark. During the game, it was clear that Bears rookie David Montgomery has “it” and is going to be a very good to great professional running back.

His hard-nosed running style and apparent refusal to hit the turf was reminiscent of legendary Bears backs of the last century. It also seemed like the Thursday Night Football broadcast had a quota to fill for how many times his tackle-breaking ability could be mentioned.

Montgomery seemed to just be getting going, but would ultimately not see the field as much as Tarik Cohen and, surprisingly, the newly acquired Mike Davis.

More from NFL Spin Zone

• Dallas Cowboys made the trade everyone else should have made
• Pittsburgh Steelers rookie sleeper everyone should be talking about
• Anthony Richardson putting jaw-dropping talent on display immediately
• Denver Broncos’ stud wide receiver might be out for a while
• Washington Commanders: Three takeaways from win over Ravens

Cohen was used essentially as a wide receiver, carrying the ball zero times but catching eight balls for 49 yards. Davis was used more as an every-down back, carrying it five times for19 yards, and catching six passes for 17 yards. Granted, Montgomery did have more carries with six for 18 yards, but Davis was on the field for 41 of 73 plays while Montgomery only totaled 28.

Not only did Montgomery look (and, statistically speaking, perform) most efficiently on the ground, he also caught one pass for 27 yards, which happened to be the longest completion of the evening for Mitchell Trubisky. The offense was simply more efficient with Montgomery on the field.

Despite this, Bears head coach Matt Nagy still plans on easing Montgomery into the offense. When asked about Montgomery, Nagy stated (per the Chicago Sun-Times):

"“The hard part is . . . a rookie coming in and learning, there’s a lot of intricacies to our offense, with rules and assignments. Not just with running the ball, but in pass protection and running routes, so we’re kind of easing him into it.”"

This may not make fantasy football owners happy, but it’s wiser in the long run.

Not only does it make sense from a strategical standpoint, as stated by Nagy, but it also does from a health and durability perspective as well. The average career span for an NFL running back is about three years, due to all the pounding their body takes, year in and year out.  With a back that runs in the style of Montgomery, ground-and-pound to the bone, this has to be something to take into consideration.

Not only that, how many times have Bears fans seen this song and dance before in the last 100 years? Talented, yet physical, running backs that get run into the ground and either have their careers cut short by injury, or simply see their production peter out such as Neal Anderson, Anthony Thomas, James Allen and of course Hall of Famer Gale Sayers, just to name a few. Besides, there’s only one Sweetness.

While it may be frustrating for fans and fantasy owners, easing David Montgomery into the Bears offense is the way to go in the long run.