Entering Week 9, the Chicago Bears were prepared to be down two of their top three running backs in a tilt against the Cincinnati Bengals. With D'Andre Swift out due to a groin injury, and Roschon Johnson out with a back injury, that means it would be a heavy dose of rookie Kyle Monangai.
Would the rookie be ready to shoulder a heavy load? As a matter of fact, he certainly was. And, it didn't take long for the seventh-round pick to showcase why Bears fans were so high on him after draft weekend.
Monangai was a focal point for the Bears' offense in the first half against CIncinnati. In fact, he carried the ball a whopping 16 times in just the first half alone.
Those 16 carries went for 100 yards.
Yep, you read that correctly. 100 yards in the first half, and in his first career start.
Kyle Monangai is making Bears fans forget about Ryan Poles' questionable draft strategy
Those 100 yards were also more than 14 other teams ran for, collectively, in the first half of their Week 9 games in the early slate.
Back in April, Bears fans would have sworn this team was going to draft a running back within the first three rounds. After each pick was sent in from Poles and the draft war room, though, fans started to wonder just what the general manager was thinking.
Passing on running back after running back, the Bears opted to wait until late Day 3 and finally snagged Monangai out of Rutgers.
He seemed like a fair consolation prize. But, fans certainly would have rather seen the Bears come home with TreVeyon Henderson, Quinshon Judkins, Cam Skattebo or one of several others in this class.
Yet, in just a single half when carrying the load for the Bears, Monangai looked the part. He ran strong. He ran hard. He kept his legs churning and proved to be exactly what Bears fans want to see at the running back position in Chicago.
Suffice it to say that Monangai isn't going to have a problem running in the cold, snowy weather here soon. His style screams "Chicago football" and fans can, for now, forget about all of the other shiny prospects they would have rather had a few months ago.
A few more games like this, and Poles will legitimately look like a wizard.