Rest assured that hours and hours of time gets spent by the Chicago Bears when evaluating a player they intend to draft. First, it's the scouts and then it works its way up the ladder to GM Ryan Pace himself. He wants everybody to be on the same pace with a draft pick, especially one he intends to trade up for. David Montgomery was no different.
However, there's always a singular moment that tends to tip the scales either for or against a player. For Pace, that play actually happened in person. He told Adam Jahns of The Athletic that he wanted to see Montgomery in person if possible, and so attended the Alamo Bowl game between Iowa State and Washington State.
Montgomery picked a great time to have one of his best games of the season. He rushed for 124 yards and caught four passes for another 55. He had plenty of great plays throughout the first half, but it was early in the 3rd quarter that the running back delivered the highlight that convinced the GM he could be the guy for the Bears.
David Montgomery TD run cemented his future for Ryan Pace
The play exemplified Montgomery's perfect fit for the Bears offense. It happened out of the shotgun and demonstrated both his vision between the tackles and his ability to stay patient working his way through traffic. He navigates through the line of scrimmage and by the time the defense gets hands on him, it's way too late as he finishes into the end zone.
Runs up the middle were a problem for the Bears last season. Jordan Howard, for all his success, was never overly good at that. Not ideal considering inside zone runs are a big part of Matt Nagy's offense. This play not only demonstrated that Montgomery could do it, but that he could do it in the congested spaces of the red zone.
Pace had seen enough. A few months later he and the Bears worked a deal with the Patriots to move up from #87 to #73 in the 3rd round to get their guy. Everybody was thrilled. Early reports out of minicamps are the young running back looks the part. He's in shape and gobbling up the offense as rapidly as possible. Expectations are high. Pace has no regrets.
