Chicago Bears News: David Montgomery could miss Week 1

The latest on Chicago Bears running back David Montgomery is not terrible news, but not great either.

Over the course of the 2020 offseason, the Chicago Bears addressed many positions in a variety of ways. One area that general manager Ryan Pace failed to address, however, is at running back.

A big question that’s been asked for months now is, what happens if starting running back David Montgomery goes down to injury? Essentially, most fans feel that the team would be out of luck. Montgomery is, by far and away, their best and, really, only pure every-down running back.

Wednesday morning, that fear became a reality for the Bears. During practice, Montgomery slipped and fell after taking a handoff. Non-contact injuries are frightening, and Bears fans immediately braced for the worst.

The initial report following practice was that Montgomery had suffered a groin strain and head coach. Matt Nagy didn’t think it was too serious. Thursday, we learned a little more about the future of Montgomery.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport told us that Montgomery will miss only 2-4 weeks with that groin injury, which overall is positive. However, that doesn’t give him a very good chance of suiting up Week 1 versus the Detroit Lions.

From today, Week 1 is 17 days away — just over two weeks. If Montgomery was good to go by Week 1, I wonder just how effective he would be after not participating in most football activities during his recovery. It seems far more likely that Nagy would rest him until he was 100 percent and could practice a couple of times, proving he was ready.

Remember another former Bears player, Trey Burton, dealt with a groin injury before the Bears ultimately let him go. He ended the 2018 season inactive for the Wildcard game against the Philadelphia Eagles. That’s also exactly how he began his 2019 season — sidelined with a groin injury.

Groin injuries certainly aren’t as serious as a major ligament like an ACL or MCL, but the Bears do have to be careful. If Montgomery were to try and rush back too soon, that injury could linger for much longer than originally thought.

In the meantime, the Bears will turn to Tarik Cohen and probably Cordarrelle Patterson to fill in for Montgomery. Cohen has plenty of experience and can handle a solid 10 carries per game, if need be. Patterson could also likely give the Bears that number. If they can run by committee against Detroit with maybe a little Artavis Pierce or Ryan Nall here and there, the Bears should be able to manage one or two games.

But, they could also look to sign a veteran free agent. In fact, it might to them good to sign a veteran in place or Pierce or Nall and keep them for the entirety of the season. For now, though, the Bears are staying put. We’ll stay updated on the matter as more news comes in.