Chicago Bears Fantasy Football: David Montgomery preview and outlook
By Nick Skrip
Chicago Bears David Montgomery: Fantasy football in 2020
What is talked about often in the fantasy football world is the difference between David Montgomery’s production before and after the bye week (Week 11 for the Bears). What is not talked about enough is that David Montgomery was reported to have a significant groin pull in August, with questions on if he would be ready for Week 1 of the NFL season.
Could that groin injury have been lingering early on? It is hard to tell and we may never know. What is clear though is that following the bye week, David Montgomery was not just one of the top backs in fantasy football, but was indeed the best RB in fantasy football. Below are some of his fantasy scoring weeks, where he finished that week for the position as well as the details on how he was the best RB in fantasy.
- Week 2 = 21.7 points (RB8)
- Week 12 = 25.3 points (RB6)
- Week 13 = 27.1 points (RB1)
- Week 14 = 24.5 points (RB6)
- Week 15 = 29.2 points (RB2)
- Week 16 = 20.1 points (RB8)
- Week 17 = 28.2 points (RB5)
- Weeks 12-17 combined = 154.4 points (RB1)
The consistency scoring over 20 fantasy points for six weeks straight was impressive and phenomenal if you rostered David Montgomery. One of the biggest critiques by many was a “weaker schedule” down the stretch for Montgomery and an emphasis on his strength of schedule (or lack of it) resulting in big weeks.
The teams that gave up the most rushing yards during the year were the Texans, Cowboys, Jaguars, Bengals and Lions. So to counter this, let’s take a look at some of the best fantasy RB’s for the year and an example of a bad week against one of these defenses that gave up the most rushing yards.
- (RB3 overall in 2020) Derrick Henry week 2 vs. Jaguars – 8.4 fantasy points
- (RB5 overall in 2020) Aaron Jones week 14 vs. Lions – 9.5 fantasy points
- (RB7 overall in 2020) James Robinson week 5 vs. Texans – 10 fantasy points
- (RB9 overall in 2020) Ezekiel Elliott week 14 vs. Bengals – 7.9 fantasy points
Running backs are bound to have off weeks and have larger opportunities against weaker defenses, but at the same time nothing is guaranteed. The above examples clearly show that just because the opponent has a weaker defense does not mean anything is guaranteed for fantasy purposes.
When David Montgomery’s success gets knocked due to the strength of schedule during the back half of the year, I do not think this is fair. What should be emphasized for his weeks 12-17 run is the amazing consistency and production he was able to produce during that time. Let’s look ahead now to 2021.