Bears struggling to establish recalibrated run game
A few hours before Jordan Howard's breakout 3-touchdown performance with the Philadelphia Eagles in their Thursday night road victory over the Green Bay Packers, Bears offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich offered this praise for Howard's rookie replacement.
"David Montgomery obviously showed his stripes a little bit; tough dude to bring down," Helfrich said of the top pick's work in the four-minute offense in Washington three days earlier. "It was good to see."
Montgomery indeed was difficult to harness as the Bears salted away their second victory, handling six of his 13 carries and amassing 43 of his 67 rushing yards on the final drive - beginning with an 8-yard scamper off right end including two broken tackles and a 25-yard punctuation run that ultimately went the same direction after the call's intended path to the left was bottled up. Montgomery felt the cutback lane and hit it with urgency on his longest run of the young season.
But after his best game thus far as a pro, Montgomery is only averaging a 4.0-yard clip - compared to Howard's 4.6 - on 12 carries per game, plus 5 total receptions for 47 yards. Powered by Howard and rookie Miles Sanders, the Eagles rushed into the top 10 of the NFL ranks in yards and attempts after Thursday night, while the Bears have struggled more to establish their own recalibrated run game.
It's not Montgomery's fault.
"David's doing a lot of good things right now," Matt Nagy said earlier this week, before conceding that he and his staff are still working their way through the proliferation of their backs' reps and offering anything but a similar endorsement of Chicago's struggling O-line.
Indeed, Montgomery's first NFL reception - a gorgeous 27-yarder up the seam on a sail route from Mitch Trubisky in Week 1 - exceeded Howard's longest catch in the past two-plus years. It took less than 40 carries for Montgomery's aforementioned 25-yarder, equaling Howard's second-longest play of last season. The Bears paid a hefty price to trade up for Montgomery because they thought he would bring more juice and diversity to the offense, of which he's clearly shown he's capable.
When will he be asked to show it more?
It's worth noting the Eagles ran for almost 200 yards at a 5.3-yard average Thursday night against the same Packers front that the Bears barely attempted to run on, to the tune of a 3.1-yard average on only 15 attempts. In fairness, that was the Bears' first game with their new featured back, but in Philadelphia's first game with its top two runners, vs. the same Washington 'D' Chicago saw Monday, Howard averaged 7.3 yards per carry, albeit on only six carries, when Philly's 'D' earned so-so blocking reviews.
Fair or not, the moment Nagy's good pal Doug Pederson and the Eagles agreed to acquire Howard, then paired him with perhaps the best back in the draft in Sanders to resurrect their own rushing attack, it was inevitable that the two situations would be compared.
So when will Nagy and Helfrich show their stripes as the architects of the Bears' disappointing run game? With a lethal Vikings' pass 'D' now looming, Sunday would be a great time to start.
• Twitter: @ArthurArkush.