The Chicago Bears pulled a road upset of the Philadelphia Eagles on Black Friday, led by a ground game that produced 281 yards on six yards per carry. The running back duo of D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai combined for 255 of those yards on 40 combined carries. With a slight raw production edge to the rookie (22 carries for 130 yards, and both of them scored.
Regardless of scoring format, Swift and Monangai both finished Week 13 as top-10 fantasy running backs. Receiving production (one catch for 13 yards) gave Swift the overall edge in fantasy points over Monangai.
When Swift missed Week 9 against the Cincinnati Bengals, Monangai had the lead back role to himself, and he delivered big (26 carries for 176 yards). That performance threatened to shift the backfield workload toward him, but over the following three games, Swift had 42 carries to Monangai's 31.
If we're being honest, Monangai proving capable like he has is an ideal scenario for the Bears' backfield dynamic. Swift's early-season workload was not sustainable, and right on cue, he was on the injury report for multiple weeks.
ESPN analyst profiles ongoing headache for fantasy managers who have a Bears RB
Depending on the situation, Swift and Monangai can both be viable fantasy starters.
Swift managers are pretty much starting him no matter what, as long as he's healthy.
On the other hand, Monangai is basically a "hope for a touchdown" guy for those who start him when he's sharing the work with Swift. And with a four-game touchdown streak going, he has been answering those fantasy prayers.
It's also fair to say that a lot of fantasy managers who had Monangai on their roster had him on the bench in Week 13 and did not reap the benefits of a 19-point performance.
In his assessment of developments from Week 13 as an "overreaction" or "not an overreaction", ESPN's Dan Graziano called the idea both Bears' running backs are startable in fantasy an overreaction.
"Both Bears RBs are startable in fantasy."
"OVERREACTION."
"Yeah, you did well if you started either D'Andre Swift or Kyle Monangai on Friday. And the opponent was no pushover. The Eagles hadn't allowed a back to rush for 100 yards all season, and both of these dudes did it in the same game. Still ... Packers-Browns-Packers the next three weeks? Are fantasy managers trusting their seasons to that schedule?"
As Graziano noted, the Bears play the Green Bay Packers twice in the next three weeks, with the Cleveland Browns in between. They are both top-10 run defenses in the league, by yards and yards per carry allowed, and both are among the 12 stingiest defenses when it comes to fantasy points allowed to running backs.
Of course, the Eagles were also a stingy run defense themselves this season before the Bears got a hold of them. The next three games are also outdoors in Green Bay and Chicago. So passing games could be limited due to weather, and the run game would be leaned on heavily.
Read more: D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai have become the RB duo of Ben Johnson's dreams
Backfield timeshares are an ongoing point of frustration for fantasy managers, and the Bears have one now. The weekly ceiling for Swift and Monangai is naturally limited by each other's presence, even in great matchups. Now, there's a potential very low floor for one or both in some tough upcoming matchups during critical weeks on the fantasy schedule.