Jordan Howard, who will enter the final year of his rookie deal in 2019, might end up playing elsewhere next season, but Chicago needs him for the stretch run.
As the weather turns -- the Bears have three straight cold weather games from Dec. 2- 16 -- Nagy is likely to place added emphasis on the ground game. The Bears, under Nagy, will always be a pass-first team, but there’s an art to calling plays when conditions change in November and December. For all the trickery and misdirection on offense, which admittedly is enjoyable to watch after what the Bears ran last season, there’s no substitute for a powerful back in certain short-yardage/goal-line situations.
“When he [Howard] gets a full head of steam ... he’s going to make a defender pay,” Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky said.
The story went on to say coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons, Howard was slow to get out of the gate in Nagy’s offense. He scored just one touchdown in the first five games. Although Howard carried the ball only 14 times for 47 yards on Sunday, he found the end zone twice, giving him four touchdowns in the past three weeks.
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