David Montgomery is the missing piece for the Chicago Bears

David Montgomery would have been a great pick for any team. His football ability and character are exactly what NFL teams want, but he makes one more team complete than any other, the Chicago Bears. Now with Montgomery, the Bears offense is finally a complete unit to make a Super Bowl run.

The Bears offense was in need of David Montgomery. Jordan Howard didn’t have the tools to do any more than run straight forward, hence why he was traded. Tarik Cohen is not your typical every down back, but he can be used in multiple ways, and Mike Davis was never going to be the feature back for the Chicago Bears. Head Coach Matt Nagy was wanting a running back that had great vision, could create on his own, and play every down in his offense, much like what had been the case for one year as the Kansas Chiefs Offensive Coordinator with Kareem Hunt, one of Matt Campbell’s former players at Toledo.

Bears General Manager Ryan Pace and Nagy had their sights set on David Montgomery long before Friday night’s trade to move up 14 spots and draft the former Iowa State star. Montgomery had a private meeting with the Bears at the NFL combine, and made a trip to Halas Hall for a workout with the coaching staff. So that move to trade away some draft capital to land a missing piece was a big one, but the Bears may have regrets in doing so.

Montgomery only had two runs of 30 or more yards, and none going for 40-plus, which fueled concerns about his lack of top-end speed. However, his ability to generate 10-yard runs is big for the post-Jordan Howard Bears, who only generated 18 total runs over 10 yards last season.

Montgomery will give the Bears a much more dynamic weapon compared to Jordan Howard, who always felt like a odd fit in Matt Nagy’s offense. Montgomery’s pass-catching upside is important to the Bears. Building on his “natural hands,” as Ryan Pace told reporters, the Bears believe they can develop Montgomery’s pass routes even further to give the Chicago offense an element they’ve been missing.

“There’s incredible stories about his work ethic, going to the facility late at night and bringing teammates with him to watch additional tape and get extra work in. You just hear one thing after another about his professional approach to the game, how important it is to him and his work ethic is off the charts. And how infectious that was to the entire team at Iowa State.” Ryan Pace told reporters after drafting Montgomery. The entire culture of the Chicago Bears has been molded already to make David Montgomery an instant fit.

The bottom line is the Bears need better production from their running backs in 2019, which is why the entire running back room except for Tarik Cohen has been turned over in the last two months. The goal is to give Mitch Trubisky more to work with than he had last year, and with Montgomery playing next to Cohen instead of Howard, the Bears believe they’ve accomplished that in finding their missing piece.