Chicago Bears’ running back Jordan Howard wins the Week 13 Ground-and-Pound Award for his 117 yard, 3 touchdown outburst in the snow!
In what turned out to be a snow-filled day at Soldier Field, the Chicago Bears and San Fransisco 49ers had to turn back the clock for some throwback, old-school football. Both teams had to rely on their ground game to move the ball–49ers quarterbacks Colin Kaepernick and Blaine Gabbert combined for 39 yards passing on the day. Luckily for the Bears, Jordan Howard, who has become one of the prime playmakers in the Chicago offense, didn’t have too much trouble moving the ball through the snow. Howard powered through the 49ers defense 32 times for 117 yards and 3 touchdowns. I don’t know if we’ve had a Ground-and-Pound award winner that has had to ground-and-pound through defenders as much as Jordan Howard did this week.
I mean, check out how many yards he gets after initial contact on his third touchdown of the day (video courtesy of NFL Brasil so you can brush up on your Portuguese):
Hat-Trick para o calouro @JHowardx24 e o @ChicagoBears abre 21 a 6 na neve contra o @49ers. 🏈🏈🏈 #NFLBrasil #SFvsCHI https://t.co/XqrBHHk6mc
— NFL Brasil (@NFLBrasil) December 4, 2016
Jordan Howard, a rookie out of Indiana, was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the 5th round of the 2016 NFL Draft. Despite not starting his first game until Week 4 against the Detroit Lions, Howard currently sits at 9th in the NFL in rushing yards (883) and has posted an impressive 4.9 yards per carry. As you saw in the video above, he is a hard runner and is tough to bring down. With defenses keying on him, daring a combination of Jay Cutler, Brian Hoyer and Matt Barkley to beat them through the air, Howard has still been an effective runner, running for over 100-yards in 5 of his 9 starts. He’s on track to rush for over 1,000 yards this season and his already putting himself in pretty good company:
Only #Bears rookie to rush for more than 3 TDs in a game was a guy named Gale Sayers way back in 1965.#ProBowlVote @JHowardx24 pic.twitter.com/MNmMP9ivu0
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) December 4, 2016
Jordan Howard has been a surprising bright spot in an otherwise tough season for the Bears and will definitely continue to make his presence felt through the rest of December and into next year. I have him to thank for a big fantasy win this week so I’m going to leave this video of his first touchdown run here so I can watch it over and over again and relish the sweet taste of victory. Thanks and congrats, Jordan Howard!
Debaixo de muita neve, @JHowardx24 anotou o 1º Touchdown do jogo entre @49ers e @ChicagoBears. #NFLBrasil #SFvsCHI https://t.co/uTNguEBrK3
— NFL Brasil (@NFLBrasil) December 4, 2016
(Photo Credit: Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
(Photo Credit: Joe Robbins/Getty Images)