Chicago Bears: 3 Bold predictions versus the Chiefs

David Montgomery eclipses 100 yards rushing

The Chicago Bears have struggled worse in the running game than with Mitchell Trubisky. There are many reasons why. First, the playcalling has not helped take advantage of the skillset of this team’s running backs. David Montgomery could be having a better season if the offense would run the ball a little more traditionally. Straight up blocking is easier than some of these crazy blocking schemes Matt Nagy has drawn up.

The RPO and draws out of the shotgun are not working well for this team. However, when they line up in I formation and use a lead blocker, Montgomery has the ability to gain four to five yards almost every attempt.

Nagy got away from this last week versus the Packers despite Green Bay’s defense allowing over 120 yards per game on average on the ground. Hopefully, the offensive minds at work bring some of these runs back for this game as the Chiefs are 30th versus the run in defensive DVOA.

Second, the blocking has been suspect most of the season. The pass blocking has not been awful, but the run blocking has been mostly a miss. This seems to be based on the scheme too often too. Yes, some guys are getting beat. James Daniels and Rashaad Coward are struggling often when it comes to allowing a push up the middle, but blocking assignments keep being missed.

The blocking has been better since Cody Whitehair and Daniels have switched back to their 2018 roles, but still not good enough. Montgomery needs to see the ball close to 20 times for this prediction to come true. This means that Nagy has to stop trying to make Cohen up the middle a “thing”. That should only happen a few times per game to keep the defense honest.

Sunday night’s success will come down to Montgomery running the ball with a purpose. If the running game gets going, it will help the first prediction of Trubisky outperforming Mahomes come true. If both of these come to fruition, the third and final prediction will also come true.