Chicago Bears: 5 Players to watch vs. Miami Dolphins in Week 6

Don’t worry about Jordan Howard

In the Chicago Bears blowout win against the Buccaneers, there was one player who didn’t have his usual good numbers. Jordan Howard had just 11 carries for 25 yards. After a good start in Week 1 of the season, Howard’s numbers have fallen. He’s on pace to rush for just 812 yards, which would be a career low.

Some feel that Nagy’s system isn’t tailored for Howard’s skill set. Howard runs well between the tackles. Nagy’s system depends on a pass-heavy offense. An old-school type of running back doesn’t fit.

The problem with this idea is that Howard is having his best season as a receiver. He’s on pace to have 40 catches for 312 yards. Both of those would be career highs. Additionally, he has a catch percentage of 83 percent, another career high.

What happened in Week 4 was Nagy trying to get Trubisky going. It worked tremendously, so he kept it going. In the meantime, Howard got his touches cut.

This isn’t usual for Howard. Last season, for example, he had four games in which he rushed for less than 40 yards in a game. In three of them, he rushed for less than 10 yards. He still ended up with 1,122 yards despite those games. In two of those games, he bounced back to rush for over 140 yards in the next game (he rushed for nine yards in the last game of the season so he didn’t get a chance to bounce back from that one).

I expect one of those bounce-back games in Week 6. In addition to the injury to McCain, the Dolphins have concerns with their defensive line. Defensive end Andre Branch has a knee injury and may not play this week. Howard could take advantage of that.

The same way Trubisky’s big game curtailed Howard’s touches can happen in the reverse. Howard can get himself into a zone and the Bears decide to keep feeding him.