Chicago Bears: Montgomery Could Be The Key To Fields' Development

Running back David Montgomery is an underrated player, even among Chicago Bears fans. Many don’t realize that he could be the key to helping develop quarterback Justin Fields.

Chicago Bears running back David Montgomery is one underrated player. There are analysts out there who don’t think very highly of him. When they talk about the top backs in the NFL, his name is never mentioned.

What if I told you that since he entered the league in 2019, he ranks ninth in rushing yards (despite missing five games)? What about the fact that he ranks eighth in receiving yards from the backfield? Additionally, he ranks seventh in the league in total percentage of scrimmage yards for an offense, accounting for 24.4 percent of the Bears’ yards since 2019.

Let’s not even talk about being among the leaders in broken tackles? He does an excellent job of breaking free since he finds himself constantly getting touched behind the line of scrimmage.

Without much of an offensive line and dealing with horrible coaching that sometimes forgot he was in the game, Montgomery has gotten a lot of yards.

Now we get to see how good Montgomery is when he is in a good system. Heck, if it is just decent we should see a better Montgomery.

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Montgomery opening eyes and impressing people

Montgomery is on a mission to show how good he really is. He’s been opening eyes at camp and making a big impression on new head coach Matt Eberflus. Eberflus found out that Montgomery is just the type of player he loves — the M&M (High motor and a mean player).

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Talk about motor and mean, yeah, he is that guy. Serious, a pro, worker — he’s going to be exciting to work with, and he’s going to fit right in. He’s the kind of guy who just says, ‘Hey, watch me go. I’m not going to say a whole bunch of things, but just watch me do my job.’

Montgomery is in his contract year. He needs to have a big year so the Bears reward him with another contract. He wants to stay in Chicago but he says he isn’t worried about the contract. If he has a good year it’ll work itself out. If not, he knows someone else will want him.

When Montgomery went down due to a knee injury last season, rookie Khalil Herbert stepped up and did a good job. He did so well that there were whispers that perhaps the Bears already had Montgomery’s replacement.

Montgomery will make sure that those whispers stop.

Montgomery could prove invaluable in Fields’ development

Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy will depend on the run more than the Bears had with former head coach Matt Nagy. There were big chunks of games, despite him saying that he needed to run the ball more, that Montgomery wasn’t involved in the offense. That is what makes his career totals so astonishing. When he got going there weren’t many people who could stop him.

Hopefully, we see more of that this season. The Bears signed Khari Blasingame to be the fullback. That will help Montgomery by not having to take blows behind the line of scrimmage so much. He’ll have a lead blocker and the idea is that he’ll see more holes as a result.

When Montgomery is in a groove, quarterback Justin Fields will have an easier time. That is what running backs coach David Walker envisions.

Justin will be a much better quarterback if we can be productive running the football. That’s going to open up a lot of stuff for him.

Whatever the Bears can do to help Fields is welcomed. If Montgomery does have a breakout year as many people expect, it’ll both help the offense become better and help him earn that second contract and stay in the city he’s grown to love.