The Bears’ first play Sunday was an 80-yard touchdown.
On a run-pass option, Mitch Trubisky handed the ball off out of the shotgun to David Montgomery, who ran through a huge gulf between left guard Alex Bars and left tackle Charles Leno. He stiff-armed Texans safety Justin Reid with his right hand, broke down the left sideline and sprinted untouched.
“Really, it had nothing to do with me, to be honest with you,” Montgomery said after the game. “You probably could run through that hole and run the 80 yards. Just being able to have that line move and push the way they did and create that amazing hole, it’s crazy.” Montgomery said he probably would have been caught had receiver Allen Robinson not blocked after running his RPO route.
The touchdown sparked the sideline, quarterback Mitch Trubisky said after the 36-7 win at Soldier Field.
“To start a game with an explosive play for a touchdown like that, I think it sends a message to the whole team and to everyone about the mindset we came out and played with,” he said.
Montgomery’s run was as explosive as it was surprising. It tied the Bears’ longest touchdown run since the merger: Neal Anderson galloped for 80 on Nov. 27, 1988, against the Packers.
His one run almost matched the Bears’ rushing yards per game average of 86.9 entering Sunday. It accounted for more rushing yards than Montgomery had in all but three games this season.
He only got 10 more carries, finishing with 11 carries for 113 yards.
“I don’t really care how many carries I had,” he said. “I’m just happy we won.”
Johnson hurt
Cornerback Jaylon Johnson left the game in the third quarter with a shoulder injury. Johnson appeared to favor his right arm on the sideline. That’s concerning, as he had right shoulder surgery in March.
It’s unclear how significant the injury is, but the Bears can ill-afford to lose the rookie. Entering Sunday’s game, he had played 98.2% of the Bears’ defensive snaps.
‘We’ll just have to keep an eye on that here moving forward, and see the significance of that,” Nagy said.
