By Brad Biggs
September 24, 2017
Steelers free safety Mike Mitchell can't catch Bears running back Jordan Howard as he heads into the end zone to score the game-winning touchdown.(Eric Hooley/Chicago Tribune)
Finally, the Bears are who we thought they should be when this season began.
That's a run-first team with a good defense and a desire to shorten the game while looking for a shot to put it away near the end. That formula worked out for them on a hot and sticky Sunday afternoon at Soldier Field.
It's premature to wonder if a 23-17 overtime victory over the Steelers, who reached the AFC championship game last season, can change the trajectory of this Bears season. They'll surely want to savor it for a night, anyway, before preparing for Thursday night's game against the Packers at Lambeau Field. But at least it's reassuring to know they remember where the strength of the roster is.
Behind Jordan Howard, Tarik Cohen and an offensive line that continues to piece things together, the Bears ground out an upset of the Steelers, giving third-year coach John Fox his first win in September.
Guard Kyle Long played for the first time, filling in on the right side with Josh Sittonsidelined by a rib injury. A week after he played all three interior positions, Cody Whitehair played left guard and center as a right hand injury knocked out Hroniss Grasu, forcing Bradley Sowell into action.
Howard, who had only 22 carries in the first two games, rumbled for 138 yards on 23 rushes, breaking tackles all over the field and ending things 93 seconds into the extra session with a 19-yard touchdown run. On the game-winner, he steamed through a huge hole on the left side created by tackle Charles Leno and tight end Adam Shaheen and took advantage of an aggressive downfield block by wide receiver Deonte Thompson.
"I couldn't even believe," Howard said. "I had to look back to make sure there weren't any flags. Because that's like a dream come true. You always dream about stuff like that, but it never happens. That was crazy."
What was nuts was how the Bears got away from the running game the first two weeks of the season. Yes, they needed to throw to catch up against the Falcons in Week 1 and fell miserably behind in Week 2 against the Buccaneers, but after two games you wondered if they'd forgotten Howard ran for 1,313 yards as one of the team's few bright spots last season.
Cohen added 78 yards on 12 carries, including a 36-yard gain two plays before Howard's winner. Cohen sped down the Bears sideline before cutting back across the field and weaving his way into the end zone and launching the football into the south grandstand. It looked like a 73-yard touchdown, but officials ruled his right foot touched out of bounds.
It's a formula for victory that can work even when the four wide receivers in uniform combine for four targets, one catch and only 9 yards. Quarterback Mike Glennon was 15 of 22 for 101 yards and one interception a week after he was picked off twice and his targets dropped seven passes.
There was a marked difference in the game plan. Counting plays with penalties, there were 19 snaps with two tight ends on the field and eight with three, including on Howard's winning touchdown. Fullback Michael Burton received a season-high 15 snaps and there were only 15 plays with three wide receivers on the field. Twelve of Glennon's 21 passes were intended for running backs, but the primary theme was run, run, run.
"We just kept at it," right tackle Bobby Massie said. "They can't practice what we do. We run zone. You can emulate it in practice, but once you get out here, that's our No. 1 thing. We kept chopping, kept chopping and the holes eventually opened. Running backs found them. Jordan and Tarik had a great game. Hats off to them."
Howard, who lost one fumble, kept returning to the game despite heading to the sideline twice after banging up his injured right shoulder.
"Sometimes I was hurt pretty bad," he admitted. "I didn't feel like I could finish. But Benny Cunningham, he kept pushing me through, and my coach (Curtis Modkins), and I just saw my team, they kept fighting. So I had to keep playing."
The holes were there over and over against a Steelers front that was without end Stephon Tuitt and outside linebacker T.J. Watt.
"It was a tribute to the guys up front," Fox said. "I think we kind of stepped over ourselves a little bit in Tampa. Our guys knew that, especially up front. That's kind of what we are and what we are going to be."
Self-awareness is a powerful tool and proved, in this instance, to be a great thing for the Bears.
Twitter @BradBiggs
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