The Chicago Bears moved on from running back David Montgomery–and vice versa–in 2023.
Montgomery went on to form a dynamic duo with the Bears’ NFC North rivals, the Detroit Lions, while Chicago eventually replaced him with former Lion D’Andre Swift.
Notably, Montgomery shared that his time with the Bears had sapped the enjoyment he used to get from the game. Now a member of the Houston Texans following a trade this offseason, Montgomery spoke candidly about those remarks and the Bears.
Ex-Bears RB David Montgomery Clears Air After Strong Comments
David Montgomery Speaks Carefully About Bears
Montgomery has been a favorite in the locker room in his stints with the Bears and Lions, and appears well on his way to making the same impression in Houston with the Texans.
Speaking about his career journey, Montgomery addressed his previous comments.
The initial remarks came in 2023 during a live stream with then-Lions teammate and now-former Bears safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson, in which he said the constant losing with the Bears (they were 25-41 during his tenure) began to “suck the fun” out of playing.
Just over three years after making those remarks, Montgomery spoke carefully to avoid going “viral,” knowing how his first comments were taken.
“It was less of me being in Chicago. I think like Chicago Bears fans think I unappreciated Chicago. I love Chicago, too. They was the team that drafted me,” Montgomery said on “Deebo & Joe” on June 30, noting the Bears moved up 14 slots via a trade with the New England Patriots to select him.
“I appreciate it for them being there. But the time and the point of my life–I was young, I came from nothing. I didn’t have anything at all, and you give me the most money I ever had in my life. And my job and my occupation, that I thought, was always to take care of my family–my entire family–and that s*** was running me dry. We wasn’t winning. I wasn’t doing the things that I knew and I thought that I was capable of doing in the first couple of years.”
The Bears selected Montgomery with the 73rd overall pick of the 2019 draft. He rushed for 3,609 yards and 26 touchdowns during his four seasons with the franchise. He posted a 562-2,506-33 line and a 36-15 record in three seasons with the Lions.
Montgomery notably played two of those seasons with Bears head coach Ben Johnson as his offensive coordinator.
David Montgomery: ‘It’s All Love’ With Bears
Montgomery, who did not shy away from relishing facing his former team while in Detroit, has been open in the past about battling with suicidal thoughts as a rookie in 2019.
Combined with the lack of wins, it nearly became too much.
“That time of me going through my personal stuff and trying to be an optimal football player, it wasn’t meshing. And my time in Chicago, it was tough. It was hard, but it wasn’t because the city of Chicago was bad or they were just terrible. I love Chicago,” Montgomery said.
“I love the McCaskeys. It’s all love. It’s just my time of where I was at in the positioning of my life, I was … trying to fulfill everybody else’s expectations but my own.”
Montgomery is stepping into a lead-back role with the Texans.
The move means he will no longer face the Bears twice a year and will only see them during the 2026 campaign if both teams reach the Super Bowl. Per Vegas Insider, the Texans have the ninth-best odds while the Bears are 15th as of July 1.
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