Monangai rushed 26 times for 176 yards and brought in three of five targets for 22 yards in the Bears’ 47-42 win over the Bengals on Sunday.
The rookie seventh-round pick got the starting call with both D’Andre Swift (groin) and Roschon Johnson (back) sidelined, and Monangai delivered even better returns than he was already projected for while facing a highly porous Bengals defense. Monangai’s longest run of the day went for an impressive 39 yards, one of his three gains of 10-plus yards on the ground. The standout performance certainly gives the Bears confidence — and perhaps the luxury of sitting Swift out an extra week if he’s not fully healthy — when they draw another extremely favorable matchup for the running game in that of the visiting Giants in Week 10.