Jordan Howard had a good start
I wrote recently about Jordan Howard having a breakout season. With the added weapons opposing defenses will be stretched out, giving him more space to run. Also, he’s worked on his pass-catching ability. Both those facts came into play against the Packers.
For the night, Howard had 15 carries for 82 yards, an excellent 5.5 yards per carry. Additionally, he had five catches for 25 yards. That’s 107 total yards from scrimmage.
While he had a pretty good game, for some reason head coach Matt Nagy got too cute late and didn’t trust Howard to convert a crucial third-and-one late in the game. Nagy got a little too pass-happy. That’s a debate for another time, though.
On the critical drive that resulted in the Bears’ final field goal instead of a chance to finish off the Packers, Howard carried the ball five times for 30 yards. He also caught a pass for seven yards. Then, inexplicably, Nagy went away from Howard.
I think Nagy learned something in this game. Going forward, I think he’ll be going to Howard more. This is a feeling out period for all involved in the offense. The offense has been pretty awful over the past three seasons and the players need to know things are better. This offense moved well for a good part of the game. Howard was a big reason for that. Expect big things from him as the season progresses.
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