Oct. 07--Charles Leno heard Will Montgomery yell in pain Sunday, but all he could do was finish the play and hope it wasn't serious. When the whistle blew and he turned back to check on his offensive linemate, his heart sunk.
The Chicago Bears lost Montgomery, their center, for the season due to a broken left fibula he suffered from friendly fire. Leno, in his first NFL start at left tackle, landed on Montgomery's leg while trying to execute a cut block.
It was an accident, but painful nonetheless.
"Damn," Leno recalled Wednesday. "I felt so, so bad. But it motivated me. I was like, 'I've got to do this for Monty.'"
On the third play of the Bears' 22-20 win over the Oakland Raiders, running back Matt Forte took Montgomery's direct shotgun snap from the Wildcat formation and ran to the right.
On the back side of the line, Leno tried to cut-block defensive tackle Stacy McGee. But McGee didn't surge forward off the snap, and Leno fell at his feet.
With the action of the play moving to the right, Leno was close enough to fall on Montgomery's leg while Montgomery was engaged with defensive tackle Dan Williams.
Leno is filled with remorse, despite accepting that such misfortunes are common in the chaos of the trenches.
"When you have a fallen brother like that," Leno said, "you just try to play hard for him."
