Chicago Bears: Jordan Howard slump due to coaching stubbornness

The Chicago Bears offense has really revved into high gear lately. They’ve scored 48 and 28 points respectively in the past two games.

Mitch Trubisky has sat at the center of that success. He’s thrown nine touchdowns to just one interception in that span with 670 yards and a completion percentage over 70. That’s good stuff. It looks like the young quarterback is coming into his own, and others on the offense are blossoming from Allen Robinson to Taylor Gabriel, Tarik Cohen, Anthony Miller, and Trey Burton. People want to see what he can do next.

Unfortunately, not everybody has enjoyed the ride thus far. Running back Jordan Howard is in the midst of the worst start to a season in his career. He’s rushed for 272 yards in five games at a paltry 3.49 per carry with one touchdown. That’s well below what he’s customary to after his excellent 2016 and 2017 seasons. Some believe it’s been his inability to adjust to the new offense under head coach Matt Nagy.

However, there may be another explanation behind it. One that was exposed somewhat during the loss to the Dolphins in Miami last Sunday.

Chicago Bears aren’t running it enough out of the shotgun

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One of the things that became evident since Howard arrived in Chicago was he’s surprisingly good at running out of the shotgun formation. This is thanks to his vision and decisive running style. Yet for whatever reason, the Bears still won’t commit to that. This season they’ve run the ball 147 times thus far. The split is at 90 times out of the shotgun and 57 times from under center.

That may seem like a good split until you realize the Bears have thrown 142 passes out of shotgun compared to 19 under center. In other words, 75% of the plays they’ve run from under center are running plays. If that’s not easy for a defense to key on, nothing is. Then there’s the success rate between the two formations.

The Bears are averaging just 2.6 yards per carry from under center this year. From the shotgun, they’re averaging a much healthier 5.5 yards per carry. This falls right in line with Howard. Under center he’s going for just 2.6 yards while out of the shotgun it jumps to 4.4. The Bears are simply a better offense operating out of the shotgun. Howard proved that when his two biggest runs of the game in Miami, one for 19 and one for 15 in overtime, both came out of that formation.

Sure there are certain situations that demand to play from under center, but these numbers show they might be lending too much of the playbook to it. By running it out of the shotgun more often, not only should the Bears see better results, but they’ll also make it more difficult for defenses to determine when they’ll run and when they’ll pass.

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