Chicago Bears: 3 reasons for loss to the Giants
Where was Howard?
One area it was thought the Bears could exploit against the Giants was in the running game. After trading away Damon Harrison, they lost easily their best run-stopper. On a wet, damp day, against a suspect run defense, with a backup quarterback under center, fans expected a heavy dose of Jordan Howard.
Well, for the first 30 minutes, they got just that and Bears’ supporters were delighted in seeing what looked like the Howard they are used to seeing. He rattled off 68 yards on 13 carries including breaking a couple of runs for big gains.
If you told me that Jordan Howard would have 13 carries for 68 yards at halftime (5.2 y/c), I would have said the #Bears would pound the rock in the second half and get out of the Meadowlands with a W, even if it was ugly.
— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) December 2, 2018
Howard had 3 carries for 8 yards the rest of the game.
So you can understand the surprise when in the second half, with those same conditions, Howard saw only three carries. Look, one of the things I love about Nagy is his aggressiveness. But he needs to be smart. Maybe it’s not such a great idea to try to call the same game as he would if Mitch were starting, especially when the backup is struggling.
But what was more frustrating was Nagy’s failure to recognize Howard was effective. If he recognized it and still abandoned the run game, that’s even more alarming. Now, I’m not one to overreact to one game, but let’s be clear, Nagy has a history of abandoning the run going back to last year’s Kansas City Chiefs playoff loss.
Who knows whether feeding Howard more in the second half would have resulted in a win, but by abandoning hi, we didn’t get the chance to find out.