David Montgomery’s most evident rookie mistake Thursday night time was doing his post-game interview earlier than he showered. Eventually he’ll study that if you’re the star of the present, you are taking your time, look ahead to the media scrum to construct and the tv digicam operators to jockey for place, bathe, dry off, saunter again to your locker, gown in silence, repair your collar, put in your watch, then your necklace, examine your telephone one final time and dramatically flip to face the ready throng.
The Bears rookie operating again nearly actually was not prepared for the highlight after a powerful debut within the Bears’ 23-13 loss to the Carolina Panthers within the preseason opener at Soldier Field. He truly winced when a TV cameraman turned a digicam gentle on as Montgomery turned to speak to reporters.
Montgomery might or might not get the star-player post-game routine down — as a 22-year-old rookie he’s a fairly humble, grounded, low-key child who seems like he was raised proper, typically referring to phrases of knowledge his mother gave him.
But on the sphere, Montgomery already is on tempo to be all the pieces the Bears hoped for. Even after 10 coaching camp practices and 13 preseason snaps, it’s fairly clear Montgomery certainly is a greater match for Matt Nagy’s offense than predecessor Jordan Howard. The loftier objectives of changing into Nagy’s Kareem Hunt and approaching if not matching Matt Forte’s consummate operating again manufacturing are nonetheless in play.
The response to Montgomery’s efficiency after the third-round decide from Iowa State had six touches in opposition to the Panthers informed you all you want to find out about how badly Bears followers need this to work out. Montgomery rushed for 16 yards on three carries, together with a seven-yard landing run within the second quarter. He additionally gained 30 yards on three receptions, together with a 23-yard achieve on a display screen go on first-and-10.
Everybody seen. “Super well-rounded back,” guard Ted Larsen mentioned. “Runs hard. Quiet. Works hard. You love to see that.”
That’s a spot-on appraisal of Forte at an identical stage of improvement in 2008. Yes, it’s early. Montgomery nonetheless has to show he will be as efficient in regular-season video games in opposition to a first-team protection. But the similarities between Montgomery and Forte are fairly apparent. So many stars need to align to have the profession that Forte had with the Bears, however Montgomery has the traits to get there if all the pieces else falls into place.
“Montgomery is the quintessential Chicago Bear running back,” mentioned Bears’ director of faculty scouting Mark Sadowski — a Chicago native — on the Bears100 conference. “He’s performed within the components. His imaginative and prescient. His skill to make you miss. His skill to interrupt tackles — he’s an ideal match to have him on the sphere the entire time.
“We have been all excited that he was nonetheless there [in the third round of the draft]. Ryan [Pace] has a philosophy — if we wish any individual, let’s get aggressive. Let’s go get him. We knew he was an ideal match. We all favored him. Coach [Nagy] cherished him. We went and received him.”
That consensus is much like the Bears’ pursuit of Forte within the 2008 draft. The Bears have been thrilled to get the Tulane product within the second spherical, 44th total.
“It was apparent. It was a no brainer. It was only a matter of, ‘Is he going to be there?,’ former Bears normal supervisor Jerry Angelo mentioned in 2014. “We had our selection [of Ray Rice or Forte] and our coaches all favored him. Ron Turner, our coordinator on the time, actually favored Forte. And Tim Spencer [the running backs coach] actually favored Matt as properly. They mentioned he can be a great slot in our scheme. And our space scout, Chris Ballard [now the GM of the Colts] actually favored him as properly.
“So there was no negativity. Usually if you’re evaluating gamers, you will have three, 4 or 5 opinions … you get any individual being the naysayer or not as excessive on the participant. But not in Matt’s case. Practically throughout the board, everyone actually favored him, noticed him…