Chicago Bears: 3 Takeaways from Week 1 vs Falcons

3. Howard-Cohen have a great debut

In order for the Bears to have a chance at winning games, the running game needs to be working. General manager Ryan Pace drafted Tarik Cohen to complement starter Jordan Howard. Howard is a bruising type of runner while Cohen is a shifty runner. He has moves upon moves and bursts of speed to get away from defenders.

Cohen certainly made an impression in his first NFL game. He had five carries for 66 yards on the ground, including a 46-yard run that set up a first-half touchdown. Also, he added eight catches for 47 yards and a touchdown and 15 yards on punt returns. He caused headaches for Falcons defenders. At one point, a defender was so frustrated that when he finally got to Cohen he flipped him over. The problem for him was that Cohen was already out of bounds.

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For his part, Howard ran for 52 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown rushing. Additionally, he had three catches for 14 yards (though he dropped a catch near the end of the game that could have won the game). Having 179 yards from scrimmage out of two players is very impressive.

The problem was they didn’t have much help.

Quarterback Mike Glennon completed 26 passes for the game. Of those completions, 11 of them went to Howard/Cohen. In fact, Bears wide receivers caught just 9 passes in the entire game, and 6 of them came in the fourth quarter (and only 2 in the entire first half).

That is unacceptable. The wide receivers need to do their job and take some pressure off Howard and Cohen. We all understand those two are integral to the offense, but they need some sort of help.

And what would a season be without an injury report on Kevin White? He left the game with a shoulder injury and the fear is that he may — get ready for this announcement — be out for the season.

Howard and Cohen combined for 99 yards on the ground in the first half. That is excellent. The problem is that without getting any help from the wide receivers, the Falcons jammed the line, and Hoard and Cohen had just 19 in the second half.

While this was a good debut for the Bears running game, things will be rough for them the rest of the way without any help.