Chicago Bears: Top three positives from win over Cardinals

Positive Number One: Jordan Howard looked like Jordan Howard

Through the Bears first two games, Howard was missing in action.

On Sunday, Howard looked somewhat back to his old form.

The Pro-Bowl back totaled 81 all-purpose yards and scored the only touchdown of the day for the Bears.

Howard’s third-quarter touchdown was his first of the year. While Howard again failed to get into triple-digit yards, Howard came up with big runs late in the game when the Bears needed it, and proved to be the threat in the backfield that he has been for the past two seasons.

Against a tough Cardinals front-seven, Howard found a way to make an impact on the game, even if it didn’t show up in the box score. Howard’s dangerous presence forced the Cardinals to put an emphasis on covering him out of the backfield, opening up the rest of the field for Trubisky, especially when he needed it after a rough start.

Even more so, the offensive line wasn’t great either. The Cardinals had the clear advantage throughout the game up front, forcing Howard to ad-lib at times when his blockers couldn’t clear space.

In the past, the one knock against Howard was his lackluster ability in the passing game. However, after two grabs for 20 yards, and several more plays in which Howard spread out wide, it’s clear that defenses are taking notice of the multi-faceted threat that Howard poses.

The yards will come. The touchdowns will continue. But what is important is that Jordan Howard is back, and it seems that opposing defenses know that very well.