David Montgomery came in with a lot of expectations when he was drafted. The Chicago Bears traded up to get him in the 3rd round. It was felt he had the sort of balanced skill set that could make for an excellent feature back. What they didn’t count on was their offensive line regressing to such an extent that they could rarely open holes for him. In a weird way, this allowed Montgomery to embody his idol Walter Payton.
All things considered, he had a good year. He accounted for 1,074 yards from scrimmage and scored seven touchdowns. That’s pretty good for a rookie who didn’t get a lot of blocking. If anything, it’s a minor surprise he cracked 1,000 yards at all. This isn’t a joke. The blocking was that bad. How did Montgomery manage to do it? The easy answer is being incredibly hard to get on the ground.
According to NFL advanced stats, the rooking tied for 3rd in the league with 28 broken tackles on the year. Only Nick Chubb, Aaron Jones, Derrick Henry, Alvin Kamara, and Phillip Lindsay did better. Four of those guys are Pro Bowlers. Not bad company for Montgomery to keep.
David Montgomery showed quitting is not an option
People have criticized the rookie for not being more effective this year. Sure, he’s made his share of mistakes but that should be expected. It’s not like the kid was a top 50 draft choice. The Bears got him in the 3rd round and expected him to be their starter right away. Rather than wilt at the challenge like a lot of guys in his position would’ve, Montgomery embraced it and did the best he could. There were plenty of other issues that prevented him from doing better.
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The blocking being once and the scheme being another. This is a big reason why head coach Matt Nagy fired offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich and offensive line coach Harry Hiestand. Everything points to the team making a strong effort this offseason to make life easier for Montgomery next season. There was plenty of proof that when he did get blocking, he was a nightmare to deal with.
