DANGER ZONE
Time running out for Trubisky to rescue his eroding reputation and Bears’ crumbling season PLUS: Kneel-down Gate continues as Nagy bristles at questions over Pineiro’s gripe about kick angle
Rookie running back David Montgomery ignores what’s said about him.
“I could care less about accolades,” he said. “I would want to win more than any of that.”
Montgomery, though, picked the perfect time to put up season-high numbers. By rushing 27 times for 135 yards against the Chargers, he spared the Bears from having to deal with another uncomfortable question this week.
Statistically, ex-Bear Jordan Howard is having a better season than Montgomery. He has run 100 times for 443 yards and five touchdowns with the Eagles; Montgomery has 98 carries for 366 yards and three scores.
Montgomery, however, has the momentum entering the Bears’ game Sunday in Philadelphia.
After all the concerns about how Howard fit in the Bears’ scheme, no running back seemed comfortable in coach Matt Nagy’s offense during the first six games of 2019.
But against the Chargers, Montgomery finally showed that, in the short term, he can be more successful than Howard. And in the long term, the third-round pick also is a much better investment for the Bears.
One reason the Bears dealt Howard for a sixth-round pick that could become a fifth-rounder in March was because they didn’t believe he was worth $2.025 million in the last season of his contract — more than three times what he made in 2018.
After starting off as a somewhat clunky fit in the Eagles’ scheme — no surprise, given its similarity to the Bears’ — Howard has had his best rushing games of the year in his last five. Still, his 55.4 rushing yards per game looks a lot like the 58.4 he averaged last season with the Bears. He’s averaging 4.4 yards per attempt after averaging 4.3 during his three-year Bears career. His 7.6 yards per catch are three-tenths of a yard off his Bears average.
“I thought he handled [the trade] really well,” Eagles coach Doug Pederson said. “We were obviously excited. Coming off of last season, we felt like that was an area we needed to get some help in, and Jordan came to our team and really bought in right away. He was here in OTAs, spent all the time in the classroom and weight room and getting himself prepared and understanding the offense. He was really a pro about the opportunity. He was excited for the opportunity he was given, and it’s paid off for him.”
The Eagles paired him with Miles Sanders, whom they took in the second round in 2019. Sanders, who had a 65-yard touchdown run Sunday against the Bills, missed practice Wednesday with a shoulder injury. Howard — coming off a season-high 23 carries for 96 yards — could be in line for extra work against the Bears.
“Miles is definitely a guy that is more of an off-tackle guy — as we know, he’s a quick one-cut guy,” Pederson said. “And then Jordan’s that big, powerful guy that runs behind his pads and is hard to bring him down. He’s always constantly falling forward. So when we design run games each week, we kind of keep both of those guys in mind and how we want to utilize them.”
Bears linebacker Danny Trevathan said Howard looks the same.
“Runs hard,” he said. ‘‘I’m proud of him.”
Howard is never too far from Tarik Cohen’s mind.
“That’s my guy,” Cohen said. “I talk to him before every game, after every game, about how his game went, how our game went. We’ve still got that same relationship we had when he was here.”
Cohen said the Bears will have “a little family reunion” in Philly. It’s too bad, he joked, that two running backs won’t be on the field at the same time.
“Wish he played special teams or defense,” Cohen said with a smile, “to try to tackle me.”