5 changes Chicago Bears made to pull off upset

4. Chicago Bears leaned to split the backfield

The Chicago Bears said that they planned to use a more split backfield after David Montgomery had typically be a 75-25 leader over Khalil Herbert. Herbert was more explosive and looks better on paper, but Montgomery has his areas of strength as well, and the best bet is not to ride one or the other but to play the hot hand.

It appeared the team leaned into that a bit, as the running back split was as tight as it had been all season. Montgomery played 40 snaps and Herbert played 29. It was essentially a 55-40 split with 5% going to Trestan Ebner.

Either way, that is much closer, although Montgomery remained the starter and the lead back. Still, the backfield split was much closer at 15-12 in favor of Montgomery. Also, Montgomery ran 12 routes to the 10 of Herbert.

This is getting closer to what we thought the team should do. It is another sign that they took the mini-bye and self-scouted. They realized that Montgomery is still the man, but they need to find ways to mix Herbert into the game. The screen pass to him that led to a touchdown was a perfect design and a play you run specifically for Herbert and not Montgomery.

Luke Getsy had the best game of his career, and we should expect this split to continue through the season.