Not by chance
Monangai led the Big Ten in rushing over the last two years with 2,541 yards. But that wasn't his only impressive accomplishment. It was no accident that he also had 669 carries in his four-year career at Rutgers without ever fumbling.
"It's something that you focus on," Monangai said. "Grip strength is one of the things that I do day-in and day-out. Hand strength. Focusing on it. Taking care of the football being in traffic, putting two hands on the football. Things like that. But yeah, zero fumbles in college is not something that just happened by chance. It's something I definitely focused and worked on."
Backfield in motion
First-year offensive coordinator Declan Doyle is amped about the running back room, with Monangai joining veterans D'Andre Swift and Roschon Johnson, among others.
Last season Swift compiled a career-high 1,345 yards from scrimmage (959 and 386 receiving) and had three TD runs of at least 35 yards, third most in the NFL.
"My short exposure to D'Andre Swift has been really positive," Doyle said. "He has been really attentive. He's a pro. You like what he does in the passing game and he's going to be a home-run hitter as a runner. Adding Kyle to that mix is going to be awesome, with the group that's in there with Roschon and those guys."
Bears running backs no doubt will benefit from working with fiery position coach Eric Bieniemy, who boasts 27 years of NFL experience as a player (9) and offensive assistant (18). Bieniemy won two Super Bowl rings with the Chiefs as running backs coach in 2019 and offensive coordinator in 2022.
"He's very experienced," Doyle said. "He has been to the mountaintop and knows what that looks like. He's going to have an impact on the running back room and what that looks like. He'll have an impact on our whole offensive staff. But he has a lot of experience in a number of different areas of scheme. That will be really helpful for all of us as we go on through this."