Chicago Bears: 5 Things to Help Mitchell Trubisky Improve in 2020

Running the Ball More

No matter how great a quarterback is, they will always benefit from having a consistent running game. One can look at David Montgomery’s numbers from his rookie campaign and think that the Bears had a decent ground attack in 2019. Montgomery finished last year with 889 yards and six touchdowns. However, as a team Chicago was in the far bottom of the NFL rankings in that category.

The Bears averaged 91.1 rushing yards per game and just 3.7 yards per carry (both ranked 27th in the league). Though their average numbers weren’t impressive, it appears that when Chicago committed to the run more, they were successful. In the games that Montgomery carried the ball 15-plus times, the Bears’ record was 6-1. In the games when Montgomery carried the ball fewer than 15 times, Chicago was 2-7.

Granted, Trubisky was knocked out of the game on the first offensive drive in a Week 4 matchup against the Minnesota Vikings and didn’t play at all versus the Oakland Raiders. However, in the other 14 games, Trubisky’s numbers were much better when Montgomery carried the ball 15-plus times—more in particular when comparing his completion percentage and touchdown-interception ratio. In the games when Montgomery has 15-plus carries, Trubisky had a completion percentage of 70 percent and threw nine touchdowns and three interceptions. When Montgomery had fewer than 15 carries, Trubisky’s completion percentage dropped to 59 percent with eight touchdown passes and seven interceptions.

It’s pretty obvious that a heavier dose of the running game will definitely be Trubisky’s best friend in 2020.