Bears RB David Montgomery thriving under new play-caller
Since returning from a concussion to play under new play-caller Bill Lazor, Montgomery has played the best football of his Bears career. Consider:
As David Montgomery zipped through a wide-open hole and sprinted down the sideline on the Bears’ first offensive play Sunday, he reached 20.33 mph. Per NFL Next Gen Stats, it was the fastest he’s ever run on an NFL field. More importantly, he reached the end zone, capping an 80-yard run.
Two weeks earlier, he didn’t make it that far. On the second Bears offensive play of the Packers game, he took a handoff up the middle for 57 yards, only to be tackled at the 8. The Bears lost a yard on the next play, threw two incompletions and were forced to kick a field goal. By halftime, the Bears trailed by three scores.
“He does that in practice every day, as far as finishing runs — whether it’s 50, 60, 70 yards down the field,” running backs coach Charles London said this week. “ After he made that run, he came back and said that made a difference, just finishing long runs.”
The fact Montgomery has two to compare is a statement in itself. Since returning from a concussion to play under new play-caller Bill Lazor, Montgomery has played the best football of his Bears career. Consider:
• In his three games in Lazor’s offense, he’s averaged 7.38 yards per carry. That’s more than double his 3.60 average when Bears coach Matt Nagy was calling plays earlier in the season.
• He’s averaged 10.1 yards per catch over the past three games after averaging 7.1 through the Bears first 10.
• The Bears have gone from averaging 19.1 points over the first 10 games to 30.3 points over the last three.
Some of the statistical uptick is explainable — the Lions and Texans have putrid defenses, which the Bears gained empty points, and yards, in the fourth quarter of the Packers game after trailing by 31.
The Bears, though, have settled on an improved offensive line alignment, with Sam Mustipher at center — ”He’s the general on the line and they believe and buy in,” Montgomery said — plus Cody Whitehair and Alex Bars at guard and Germain Ifedi sliding to tackle alongside Charles Leno.
Montgomery’s growth the last three weeks prompts a question not different than the one asked about playing to quarterback Mitch Trubisky’s strengths: what took so long?
Nagy never had the appetite to run the ball for the sake of doing so. Last year, he felt obligated to tell the world that “I’m not an idiot” after ordering seven carries against the Saints.
Montgomery’s 3.7 yards per carry ranked No. 41 last year — only Le’Veon Bell, then with the Jets, had more carries and less success..
The Bears entered the season planning run more with Trubisky under center. It worked — through two games, Montgomery averaged 5 yards per carry. Then came the switch to quarterback Nick Foles and an uptick in competition; Montgomery had 10 carries against both the Colts and Rams, and didn’t total more than 29 yards either time.
Under Lazor, the Bears are running the ball only slightly more — 36.1% over four games, versus Nagy’s 33.7% over nine — but have been effective when they do.
Lazor is spelling Montgomery with backup Cordarrelle Patterson more, to a frustrating degree. After Montgomery’s 80-yard run Sunday, he carried the ball only 10 more times. Patterson had six runs. The week before, Montgomery ran 17 times, Patterson 10. Montgomery, though, wasn’t going to complain about his touches. For maybe the first time since he was drafted, the Bears’ rushing attack is clicking.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say anything’s changed,” Montgomery said. “I think we’re starting to buy in more, really believe. Believe. It gets to a point where, what do you really have to lose? …
“Not saying we never did [believe], but we just believed more and bought in more.”