For his first three NFL seasons with the Chicago Bears, whenever he faced the Detroit Lions, David Montgomery looked at the games as "stat games."

"Me just circling the calendar of when I would play Detroit," Montgomery said. "And then last year it was just a whole different story. (They beat us the first time and) I’m like, 'Maybe it was a fluke.' And then they did it to us again the second time, I'm like, 'Maybe they're the real deal.' And then I got over here, I'm like, 'Oh yeah, this the real deal.'"

Montgomery said he's "happy to be a part" of a Lions team that sits atop the NFC North with a 7-2 record heading into Sunday's game against his old team.

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Montgomery led the Bears in rushing in 2019-21 and topped 200 carries in each of his four seasons in Chicago.

He's on pace for similar production this year — he leads the Lions with 501 yards rushing, seven touchdowns and 106 carries through nine games — even though he missed three games with injuries and is splitting time with rookie Jahmyr Gibbs.

"I think it’s great," Montgomery said. "It took Jah a little bit to come along, but as everybody can see, the world can see, he’s come along, and I told him when I got back (from my rib injuries), I’m following his lead. It’s a beautiful thing to have two guys being able to perform at a high level."

Montgomery, who signed a three-year, $18 million deal with the Lions during the offseason, said he has no hard feelings about the way things ended in Chicago.

The Bears, following a three-win season, let Montgomery walk in free agency, installed Khalil Herbert as their lead back and drafted Roschon Johnson in the fourth round. Both Herbert and Johnson have battled injuries this year, and D'onta Foreman leads the Bears with 367 yards rushing through 10 games.

"Ultimately, Chicago was the first place that took a shot on me, gave me a chance to be a part of the journey of who I am today," Montgomery said. "I love Chicago, the city of Chicago and everything that they have done to me, but it worked out. I’m here and I love this team, I love my team. I feel the best that I've felt in my career and I feel like I’m playing the best that I’ve played in my career up to this point, and that’s a testament to Yah, God being who he is to allow me to make the decision that was best for me and my family and ultimately it’s been working out."

Montgomery and Gibbs have largely split time this season, and together have given the Lions one of the best rushing attacks in the NFL.

Montgomery handled the bulk of the backfield work the first two weeks before missing time with a thigh bruise. He had 32 carries for 121 yards in his Week 4 return, then injured his ribs two weeks later in a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Gibbs (90 carries, 476 yards) missed two October games with a hamstring injury, but had big days in starts against the Atlanta Falcons and Las Vegas Raiders.

Both healthy last week, Montgomery and Gibbs combined for 193 yards rushing and three touchdowns in their most balanced workload of the year.

"This was part of the vision coming to life, man, is those two back there, the two-headed monster and they both deliver something different and they’re both very unique and they’re dangerous, both of them," Lions coach Dan Campbell said after the Chargers game. "So it’s good to see that, and Gibbs continues to grow and it’s great to have David back. He played at a high level."

Montgomery, who Gibbs considers "like my big brother," said having a partner like Gibbs in the backfield, someone to compete with for carries and take the strain off his body, has helped make him a better player.

The two have complementary rushing styles — Gibbs is a home run threat every time he touches the ball, while Montgomery is a slugger who wears opposing teams down — and Montgomery is enjoying the best blocking of his career.

"It's more of a blessing than anything, just being able to have such a profound group in front of me," he said. "I think even when I was in high school and sometimes in college, I never knew what that really felt like, but to have it here and feel it, super, super dope. I think also it gives like me an opportunity to showcase what I can actually do, cause I hadn’t got granted that for a while in my career but now I feel like it’s becoming apparent what I can do."

Against his old team this week, Montgomery said it's imperative he not try to do too much.

He said he's looking forward to seeing some of his good friends with the Bears, including Herbert and Bears quarterback Justin Fields, but otherwise he's treating it "as any other game."

“I’m just going to be me, man," he said. "I’m not going to try to play out of the lines of myself, I’m just going to be me. I think me being who I am is enough. So I’ll just go out, play the way that I play, play the way that I know how and hope that we execute properly and walk out of there with a dub".

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions' David Montgomery 'just going to be me' vs. Bears