Chicago Bears: 5 Takeaways from Week 14 win vs. Cowboys

Running game was excellent

This is how the running game should work. The Bears rushed for 151 yards. That total is the most for them since Week 8 against the Los Angeles Chargers.

David Montgomery could be turning a corner. He now has consecutive games in which he’s done well rushing. Last week against the Lions, he had 75 yards on 16 rushes (4.69 yards per rush). He also caught a touchdown pass.

Against the Cowboys, Montgomery had 20 carries for 86 yards (4.3 yards per rush). It’s the first time all season he averaged more than four yards per rush.

What really helped Montgomery is that he had another runner to complement him. Trubisky had 10 carries for 63 yards and a rushing touchdown. Having both of them running effectively really helped the offense. Not only did that help free up the receivers to make big catches, but it also helped the run-pass option (RPO) play.

WIth Montgomery running well, the defense collapsed hard on him on the RPO’s. The Cowboys defenders didn’t respect Trubisky’s running ability. He hasn’t run as much this season as he did last season so they focused on Montgomery.

Trubisky took advantage of the defense keying in on Montgomery to take big chunks of yards. Once he got past the line he had a wide-open space to run through.

Remember when Trubisky completely messed up the option play against the Los Angeles Rams that ended up as a loss on third down? Well, this time Trubisky had a great handle on the RPO. He worked it to perfection and gashed the Cowboys defense.

Montgomery had some holes to run through and he displayed his toughness and balance. He dragged defenders with him and hit the holes hard and did a great job of eluding defenders.

The running game worked exactly as the coaches expected. The Chicago Bears might not make it to the playoffs but if the running attack continues to perform like this there is hope for next season.