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David Montgomery # 32 of the Chicago Bears celebrates with J.P. Holtz # 81 at Soldier Field on October 03, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois for a touchdown against the Detroit Lions. The bears defeated the lions 24-14.
The Chicago Bears will officially have top running back David Montgomery back in their line-up for Monday Night Football against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and it doesn’t sound like there will be a large number of seats for him either.
According to Adam Hoge of NBC Sports Chicago, Montgomery “is expected to receive the majority of the carries from the Bears’ backfield against the Steelers as he prepares for his first game in nearly a month. The 24-year-old running back had been in the injured reserve since Oct. 9 with a knee injury sustained in their Week 4 win against the Detroit Lions, but the bears activated him before 8:15 p.m. Monday. ET prelude.
The #Bears have officially activated David Montgomery from IR. He is expected to receive the majority of the Bears ‘RB carries against the #Steelers tonight.
Montgomery was one of the Bears’ strongest offensive assets before injuring himself, averaging 4.5 yards per carry and more than 100 yards twice in the first four games. He was also injured during his best outing of the year, which saw him hit a season high of 23 carries for 106 yards and two touchdowns in less than a full game against the Lions. If Montgomery can get back to a full workload, then it will surely be in the Bears’ best interests to let go of him in Pittsburgh.
The Bears have also added linebackers Cassius Marsh and Sam Kamara from the training team to their week 9 playday lists and Germain Ifedi removed from the Reserve / COVID-19 list, allowing him to return to the injured reserve.
Montgomery should be able to give the Bears a significant boost as they attempt a losing streak of three Playing to score on the road. Still, Chicago will have the burden of getting him back on the field without completely eliminating the influence of rookie Khalil Herbert.
Herbert was an explosive surprise for the Bears in their four games without Montgomery. The 2021 six-round pick also produced its first 100-yard rushing game against Tampa Bay in week 7, which is hard to ignore given the senior defensive front designed to hold it back.
Since Damien Williams (knee) against With the Steelers ruled out, Herbert can still be expected to split up some of the carries with Montgomery, but it’ll be interesting when the Bears find more creative ways to include him in their schedule. Perhaps there may be a role similar to that for Herbert as Tarik Cohen was deployed prior to his cruciate ligament rupture in 2020, which can lead to defensive matchup issues.
The Bears could also consider getting Herbert back to work on kickoff returns allow. While the team played him almost entirely on the offensive during his time as the primary rusher, likely to protect him from injury, they may want to reap his potential as a returnee as he averaged 28.2 meters per return. On the other hand, after Montgomery was injured, the Bears also swapped veteran wideout Jakeem Grant to handle the return obligations and could be content with keeping Herbert on the offensive.
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