Running the Wrong Way
David Montgomery has not yet begun to run.
Literally, Montgomery says he hasn't been running. Now he will.
"I've been working with probably the best speed trainer in the world in Chris Korfist," the third-year Bears running back said Wednesday at OTAs. "He's actually teaching me how to run.
"I'm 23 years old, getting ready to turn 24 here soon in a couple days. I've not been able to run properly the entirety of my life. Me, just really not realizing how I didn't know how to run, he's definitely cleared that image up for me and he's definitely helping me out a lot."
Korfist is a longtime high school track and football coach who operates a speed school called, "Slow Guy Speed School."
But Montgomery not being able to run? He did run a pedestrian 4.63 time in the 40 at the combine, but plays faster. The Houston Texans would attest to that after the 80-yard touchdown run he broke on them last season.
So if Montgomery couldn't run before, what is it Korfist is going to fix? Because, he sure seemed like a runner when he tore up the the Minnesota Vikings for 146 yards in a key victory during the run to the playoffs last year.
"If I could tell you that, that's like me giving you the recipe to my mama's fried chicken. I can't do that," Montgomery said. "It's too important."
Montgomery's 1,070-yard season in 2020 represented a vast improvement over his rookie year when he gained 889 yards. He went from 3.7 yards a carry to 4.3. It came about largely due to a line switch with six games left.
After they ended a six-game losing streak, the Bears won three straight to get into the postseason and Montgomery averaged 5.6 yards a carry for the final six games. He'd averaged only 3.6 yards a carry in his first nine games.
Montgomery sees more to this running attack improvement than some linemen changing positions.
"Whatever attacks us or whatever looks us in the eye, we have to be able to handle it, whatever it may be," Montgomery said. "Us as a collective group, the offense, and a team, the morale just kind of went up. We got tired of being where we were.
"You get to a point where you get tired of things not going right and you kind of demand things to change. The guys in the room that we’ve got as leaders kind of did that—not kind of. They did that. And they were able to change fast."
Besides running faster, Montgomery says he wants to be a better leader than last year.
"I definitely, it wasn't enough for me last year, just knowing the untapped potential that I had within myself," he said. "As far as my leadership last year, I didn't do as well as I thought I could've done.
"So for me it was more of a motivational tool to take the proper time that I needed to attack the offseason properly as far as the way I plan on leading this year and the way I plan on helping this team and this offense. It was a big offseason for me and it's still the offseason."
Montgomery is a veteran now, but not joining the veterans on the defensive side or a few on offense who have opted out of voluntary work on-field during OTAs.
"You know, we (are) in OTAs right now and once OTAs are over I have another month to where I can do what I need to for this offense and this team," he said. "So I'm just doing everything that I can to get better every day."
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
