Snap judgment: Bears vets Danny Trevathan, Akiem Hicks see spikes

This question has swirled around the Bears for more than six months: Does Danny Trevathan still have it?

General manager Ryan Pace made a tough call to let linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski walk in free agency despite being four years younger than Trevathan, and there was a lot of skepticism when Trevathan struggled early. He appears to have regained his footing, though, and the Bears were confidence enough to play him 85% of the snaps in their win over the Panthers on Sunday.

That was his most playing time since the opener, when he played 90%. That’s been a normal workload for Trevathan before this season. But his snaps decreased to 48% in Week 2 and hadn’t gone above 80% since.

He had a season-high 10 tackles against the Panthers.

Montgomery: Many snaps, modest production

With Tarik Cohen gone and the offensive line struggling, the Bears’ running game seems to hinge on whether David Montgomery can make something out of nothing. Bears coach Matt Nagy doesn’t seem inclined to increase Cordarrelle Patterson’s playing time, so there’s a lot riding on Montgomery.

Nagy played him a season-high 85% of the snaps (he also hit that number in Week 4 against the Colts), and Montgomery put up 97 yards of total offense. While his 19 carries for 58 yards wasn’t much, he supplemented that with a solid four catches for 39 yards. That’s 4.2 yards per touch.

Patterson (18% against Carolina) got just one carry as the running game shifts increasingly to Montgomery. Since Cohen’s injury, here’s how the running back carries break down:

Montgomery, 39
Patterson, 7
Ryan Nall, 0

Pulling back on Quinn, ramping up Hicks

Defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano surprisingly scaled back outside linebacker Robert Quinn’s playing time, which appeared to be trending upwardly before the Carolina game. His position coach, Ted Monachino, said last week the goal is to play Quinn between 50-60%, but he got just 44% of the snaps against the Panthers.

That’s partly because the Bears like what they’ve been getting from backup James Vaughters, who played a season-high 49% of the snaps.

Vaughters is a great success story in player development. He went undrafted out of Stanford in 2015 and bounced among the Packers, Patriots, Chargers and the CFL before landing with the Bears as primarily a practice-squad player last season. He made the roster cut this year and has 1.5 sacks and 13 tackles.

“I like the way that he’s grown with us the last couple years,” Nagy said in Week 3. “Our defensive coaches really appreciate the knowledge that he has in this defense, the way he plays... He plays a nice role for our defense. There’s a comfort there and a trust from our coaches with James.”

That said, Quinn needs to play more unless he’s injured again. He was not on the injury report last week.

On the flip side, defensive tackle Akiem Hicks played a season-high 87% of the snaps. There are always going to be durability concerns with a defensive lineman in his 10th season, but Hicks looks like he’s at full strength with 10 quarterback hits, including 3.5 sacks. It was the third time in four games he played at least 80% of the snaps.

Checking in on rookies

A quick round-up of some key Bears rookies:

— Wide receiver Darnell Mooney, who had been outpacing Anthony Miller in playing time, got the same number of snaps as him Sunday with both players at 67%. Here’s how they compare:

Mooney: 30 targets, 18 catches, 196 yards, one touchdown
Miller: 26 targets, 16 catches, 169 yards, two touchdowns

— Tight end Cole Kmet played a season-high 35% of the snaps and caught his first career touchdown. That might be his target number for a while. If he continues improving through the season, he should start taking snaps away from Demetrius Harris. Harris has played 42% of the snaps this season, compared to 32% for Kmet.

— Cornerback Jaylon Johnson played 100% of the snaps against Carolina and is at 99% for the season. According to Pro Football Reference, opposing quarterbacks have completed just 47% of passes they’ve thrown at Johnson and have a 82.7 passer rating.