Heading into fantasy football week 2, we grow and learn from the week 1 results.

While Chicago Bears fans came away from Sunday night feeling like their favorite team got manhandled on primetime television, the sense of relief in knowing the rest of the NFC North also fell flat is something to chew on. The Bears are nothing short of tied for first place in the division, and in fact were the only NFC North team to not have a 3-and-out on Sunday.

Baby steps.

Now that the Bears look like they can actually field a bonafide NFL offense, it’s time for the defense to kick it into high gear, right?

Backward strides.

The Bears quite simply couldn’t tackle a kindergartner on Sunday night. The Rams opened the game up in the second half with 21 points, and the Bears never got Allen Robinson and Cole Kmet going enough to keep up.

Tip your cap, work harder, and look forward to a (hopefully much easier) week 2 contest against the Cincinnati Bengals. Here’s your Bears Fantasy Football Start/Sit guide for week 2:

Start: David Montgomery, RB

Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Admittedly, this surely isn’t news to anybody that they should start David Montgomery. If you drafted him, you likely got him in one of the earliest rounds. ESPN and Yahoo both had him auto-autodrafted in the 20s, so in a 10-team league that’s round 3.

He’s your RB2 at worst, and he went off for 108 yards in Week 1.

But let’s talk about this matchup.

The Cincinatti Bengals come into Soldier Field in Week 2 for a noon matchup, and only the Houston Texans gave up more yards per carry last year according to Pro Football Reference. To the Bengals’ credit, they held Dalvin Cook to just 61 yards on 20 carries in Week 1, but the Minnesota Vikings were attacking through the air that whole game. Cook was actually on the receiving end for 6 of those passes. In PPR, you want to see Montgomery grab those free points.

ESPN has Montgomery’s Week 2 projection as:

Montgomery offered up some hope going forward, overcoming poor offensive line play and a tough matchup against the Rams to finish with 108 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. He also added one catch for 10 yards. Montgomery should be a locked-in RB1 for fantasy managers against the Bengals in Week 2.

Even against the Rams outstanding defense in Week 1, Montgomery was able to chug for yards. His final stat line of 108 rushing yards, 1 TD, 1 reception, 10 receiving yards was enough for 17.3 fantasy points in standard PPR format. That’s still about a touchdown shy of where you’d like to see him (20+ fantasy points) but it’s great value for a RB2.

Our own Jacob Infante had an excellent point about how Montgomery was getting his yards on Sunday:

It’s a layup, but check your lineup and make sure Montgomery is at least at your FLEX.

SIT: Darnell Mooney

Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Since the day Anthony Miller was traded to the Houston Texans, the drum has been beat that this is Darnell Mooney’s opportunity to solidify his spot as the Bears’ second read after Allen Robinson. Mooney posted excellent numbers in his rookie season last year, and even a meager step forward in development would mean he could top his 61-catch, 631-yard stat line for the 2020 season and come closer to a 1000-yard season.

In week 1 against the Rams though, it was another Bears second-year player who had himself a game: Cole Kmet.

Kmet actually led the Bears in receiving yards, topping even Allen Robinson, as the latter had to deal with a pesky Jaylen Ramsey all game. Does that make Kmet the Bears’ #2 option?

Mooney saw action in 100% of the Bears’ 69 offensive snaps, but was still held to only 5 receptions. The Bears threw 40 passes, yet only targeted Mooney 7 times. If you watch the tape, they aren’t sending him deep. Too many plays designed for Darnell Mooney look exactly like this one:

Those short plays, even in PPR leagues where you get a freebee for the reception, just aren’t going to threaten legitimate WR2 territory. Darnell Mooney should see a boost when Justin Fields eventually gets the nod, but as of now, you may want to stash him until you see the Bears do something different on offense.

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