Against Vikings, Bears need a lot of David Montgomery and a little of Mitch Trubisky

Put together, Vikings purple and Bears blue make for a lovely shade of bruise, which is the perfect symbol for what should happen at Soldier Field on Sunday.

Two ferocious defenses and two untrustworthy quarterbacks figure to turn Bears-Vikings into a slugfest involving two running backs -- Minnesota’s Dalvin Cook and Bears rookie David Montgomery, who was impressive in a victory over woeful Washington on Monday night.

The NFC North is nicknamed the Black and Blue Division because of its history of hard hitting, missing teeth and whomever Dick Butkus decided to terrorize each Sunday. But now the North looks like every other division, with offenses built on high-tech passing attacks that, if they were any more affected, would be French. Hell, Bears coach Matt Nagy ran trick plays last season that his players dubbed “Santa’s Sleigh,’’ “Willy Wonka’’ and “Oompa Loompa.’’

That’s why the idea of Sunday is so delicious to those of us who recall a time when running backs mattered and defensive players would do whatever they could, including dog-pile shenanigans, to immobilize the bulldozer with the ball. Vikings coach Mike Zimmer, the pride of Lockport, seems intent on taking the game backward about 30 years. Cook has had three straight 100-yard games to open the season and leads the league in rushing. Zimmer’s quarterback, Kirk Cousins, has an unfortunate habit of doing the worst thing at the worst moment. That has made Zimmer’s conservative side come out even more. And it was George Will-like to begin with.

I’m not sure the innovative Nagy can help himself. I’m not sure he’ll be able to stick to the storyline of a bruising game with plenty of running. He found a nice formula against Washington in Week 3, running a lot of no-huddle offense and having Trubisky throw an array of short, low-risk passes. After Trubisky tossed a bad interception with the Bears leading 28-9 in the third quarter, Nagy went the safe route, giving the ball to Montgomery over and over.

How much does the coach trust his rookie running back, who averaged 5.2 yards a carry against Washington? More than he trusts his sometimes-shaky quarterback? Does he risk giving the ball to a running back he doesn’t know that well? Or does he risk giving it to a quarterback he knows only too well? Lots of questions.

Here’s your answer: Give the ball to Montgomery, coach. Let your defense, perhaps the best in the NFL, beat the Vikings’ defense.

Trubisky walked away from the Washington game with some confidence. Three touchdown passes and a 116.5 passer rating will do that to you. But the Vikings are a different animal than Washington is, in that they use teeth, not gums, to eat their food. They’ve given up only eight passes of 20 yards or more and none of 40 yards or more. They’re tied for fourth in points allowed (15.7).

It’s possible that Trubisky will lose confidence if Nagy takes the ball out of his hands Sunday, but if the idea is to win the game, that’s the route to take. And if the Bears are still tiptoeing around Trubisky’s confidence in his third season in the league, they’ve got a bigger problem than Minnesota.

I’ve agitated for Nagy to have Trubisky run more, and I’ll continue to do it. If defenses are given good reason to worry about the possibility he’ll take off with the ball, it will give him more openings in the passing game. But you might recall the hit by Vikings safety Harrison Smith on Trubisky last season. It caused a shoulder injury that knocked the quarterback out of the next two games. The league fined Smith $10,000 for the hit.

The chance of a Mitch injury rises significantly against a defense as nasty as Minnesota’s. So maybe the Bears shouldn’t go there this week.

There are those among you who, having seen enough of Trubisky’s mediocrity, would welcome the sight of Chase Daniel under center. But when a backup quarterback has started just four games in nine seasons, there’s a reason for it.

No, stick to the plan, or at least the latest plan: Have Trubisky throw quick, safe passes Sunday. Don’t give him too much time to think. Against a defense as good as the Vikings’, have him turn and hand the ball to Montgomery, Tarik Cohen or even wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson, who had a 46-yard run against the Broncos in Week 2. And with wide receiver Taylor Gabriel, who caught all three of Trubisky’s touchdown passes in Washington, out Sunday because of a concussion, it’s one more reason to run more.

The plan to use ground transportation to advance the ball has carried many an afternoon at Soldier Field. It might not be pretty. It might involve a lot of grunting, more than a few drops of blood and possibly some tedium. But afterward, you’ll know you’ve watched what used to pass for a football game – the kind without the pass part.