Chicago Bears: Jordan Howard will be better in Matt Nagy’s offense

There has been a lot of talk recently about if and how Jordan Howard will fit into Matt Nagy’s offense with the Chicago Bears.

There’s really no doubt that Jordan Howard has been the focal point of the Chicago Bears offense since he came into the league two years ago. In fact, outside of the emergence of Tarik Cohen last season, he has really been the only offense.

In two seasons he has racked up 2,435 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns on the ground. Most of this has come against opposing defenses that have stacked the box against him.

That’s the most impressive part.

The Chicago Bears haven’t had any semblance of a passing game since Howard has been a member of the team. And yet he has been one of the most productive backs in the league during that time.

But despite all of this, there has been speculation as to whether or not Howard will fit the scheme of the Bears new offense under Nagy. His offense utilizes a high percentage of passing plays out of the backfield and multiple-back formations. It was an assumption that Nagy would prefer a more versatile back with better pass catching skills than Howard.

It’s no secret that catching the ball out of the backfield has not been Howard’s strong suit. While he has caught 52 passes for 423 yards over two seasons, he has also had several drops.

While it hasn’t been a strength of his game, he doesn’t plan on it remaining that way.

“I feel like I can fit in pretty much (any) offense,” Howard told Chicago Tribune Bears beat writer, Brad Biggs. “Yeah, I have had struggles receiving, but anytime people doubt me, they just push me to do better and improve. That is definitely one thing I want to improve on.”

To be honest, the notion that a coach with the offensive mind of Nagy can’t find a way to utilize a running back like Howard just seems ridiculous.

When asked about Howard’s lack of production as a receiver and not being a fit in his offense, Nagy said, “Just because he struggles in one area, we’re going to get him better. To sit there and say he doesn’t fit this offense I don’t think is very fair.”

When it was recently discovered that all Chicago Bears-related photos of Howard had been removed from his Instagram account, it only fueled speculation that the team was looking to trade him.

But trading away the top offensive weapon from a team that won eight games over two years didn’t seem like the best plan regardless of what scheme is being run.

Which is why that theory was quickly shut down by Howard, Nagy and the Bears.

When asked recently by Biggs, Nagy made it clear that Howard will be the feature back, but that he would also use multiple backs in his offense.

"“Absolutely, yeah,” Nagy said. “That’s the beauty right now of where we’re at. We’re very strong at that position. To have (Tarik) Cohen there as well, you’re seeing all these teams that are out there right now, they’re going with multiple backs. So to sit here and say a feature back? Yeah, he’s going to be the guy that lines up and gets the ball. But at the same time, we’re crazy if we use one back. That’s not going to happen. We’re going to use multiple backs.”"

The use of multiple backs, as well as more spread formations, are a couple of the reasons that Howard should be even more effective in this offense. Not being the focal point of every play, as a result of having more weapons around him, should also open up more running lanes for Howard and translate to more big runs.

In addition, if he can improve his ability to catch the football, which is evidently something that Nagy will make a priority, then he will be more dangerous than he has ever been.

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The Chicago Bears offense is undergoing a transformation unlike anything that fans have seen. With new weapons at wide receiver and tight end along with the return of Cohen as a do-it-all guy, it may be easy to lose sight of Howard’s importance. However, odds are that Howard will make his presence known this season.