The Chicago Bears are coming off a season with the NFC North title and a ground game that ranked a respectable 11th in the league, averaging 121.1 yards per game, in Matt Nagy's first year as head coach.
The Bears, however, didn't maintain the status quo and traded running back Jordan Howard, the team's leading rusher over the past three seasons, to the Philadelphia Eagles in late March.
Tarik Cohen, an electrifying all-purpose running back, returns and he's now joined by Mike Davis, who signed a two-year deal during free agency, and David Montgomery, the Bears' third-round pick of the 2019 draft.
Howard's production will be missed, but quarterback Mitch Trubisky projects good things from his current backfield.
"We've got a three-headed monster that's going to be able to make huge plays for this offense," Trubisky said, via Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune. "Very talented guys and pretty much handpicked by (general manager) Ryan Pace and coach Nagy. I 100 percent believe in those guys.
"Just being around Mike and being back with Tarik, you just feel like these guys really fit this offense and are able to do the things we want them to do -- running the zone scheme, making guys miss, extending plays, running guys over and catching the ball out of the backfield. That's what we expect from David and Mike."
Despite boasting the 11th-best overall ground attack in 2018, the Bears ranked 26th in yards per attempt (4.1). Chicago's projected incorporation of three running backs with different skill sets could perhaps improve that standing in 2019.
Trubisky further believes the second year in Nagy's offense should produce a significant leap for the entire unit, which finished the 2018 season ranked 21st in the league.
"The comfort level has gone up -- with this offense, with your teammates, with your coaches," Trubisky said. "That allows for learning and everything that's in this offense to be accelerated. It allows us to grow that much quicker. Being together and being able to watch our own clips from last year, being able to own our mistakes (allows us to) get better and grow on what we did really well."
The second-year aspect doesn't apply to Davis and Montgomery given their first year in Chicago, of course.
Davis, though, is a veteran and joins his third team on his five-year career after spending the past two seasons with the run-oriented Seattle Seahawks. Montgomery can be worked in as needed, while Cohen provides all the explosion the Bears need out of the backfield.
And for a team already equipped with one of the NFL's top defensive units, a three-headed ground attack should provide the perfect complementary piece.
