ORLANDO – The crowd at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports made it clear which player was the star of the NFC’s Pro Bowl practice. The chants of “Ezekiel!” and “Elliott!” were loud and constant, as people of all ages shoved their way to the fences, waving hats, jerseys, helmets, and footballs in the air, as if he’d stop running plays with his fellow stars so he could sign autographs and pose for selfies. One fan, easily in his 50s, complained to his wife that the superstar rookie never came to them on the opposite side of the field. “He heard us,” she assured him with a hint of disgust in her tone. “He had every opportunity.”
Elliott, though, eventually made his way over to his fans, and he was expectedly mobbed. Reporters waited on the side to interview the Cowboys rookie, after they were done grilling his teammate and Offensive Rookie of the Year competition Dak Prescott about what he thought of the NFL’s all-star game moving to Orlando. Dez Bryant was also followed by reporters after the NFC’s practice, as were Odell Beckham Jr., Drew Brees, Mike Evans, Richard Sherman, and even Kirk Cousins.
Strangely, Jordan Howard navigated the crowd mostly unnoticed.
It’s easy to get star-struck by Elliott, who reveled in the moment and galloped around the field like an excited child as actual children screamed his name. His numbers were incredible, after all. But Howard was hardly a nobody. The Bears rookie finished the 2016 season ranked third in rushing with 1,313 yards. He did it without that spectacular Dallas offensive line, and, much more impressively, he did it for the 3-13 Bears. So, as he wandered the practice field, without a single digital recorder or video camera in his face, it was a fitting metaphor for the unsung heroics of his rookie campaign.
Howard was the lone consistent bright spot on an offense that was decimated by injuries to Jay Cutler and Brian Hoyer, as well as linemen Josh Sitton and Kyle Long. In all, the Bears sent 19 players to the injured reserve in 2016, which is by far the team’s highest total of the millennium. In fact, it was an injury to starting running back Jeremy Langford that opened the door for Howard to prove that he was better than his fifth round draft status. While a few people – fantasy football experts, mostly – thought he would eventually steal the job, injury or not, only Howard knew what he was really capable of.
“I knew I could do it all along,” Howard told me after taking reps with the NFC’s best players, “but I didn’t know if I’d have the opportunity to have this type of success. I always knew I had the ability to perform this way, but when I got my chance I tried to make the most of it.”
After Langford sprained his right ankle against the Cowboys in Week 3, it seemed like the job was Howard’s to lose. The rookie out of UAB (and Indiana) carried the ball nine times for 45 yards and caught four passes for 47 yards in that loss. The following week against Detroit, Howard introduced himself to the Lions and the rest of the NFL by rushing for 111 yards in a rare Chicago win. In Week 5, against the Colts, Howard looked unstoppable, rushing for 118 yards on just 16 carries, while turning three catches into 45 yards and his first NFL touchdown. The Bears lost that one, but the Hoyer-led offense was still clicking.
Howard was far from perfect, though. Just as he’d started the preseason as the team’s third-string back, he struggled to stay in coach John Fox’s favor. It wasn’t his fault, of course, because the team was cursed. But Fox had to do what he had to do to win. After Howard put up a dismal 34 yards on 15 carries against the Jaguars, he saw a reduced Week 7 role against Green Bay, gaining 22 yards on just seven carries, while Ka’Deem Carey looked to be the new go-to guy.
With a Monday Night Football matchup against the incredible Vikings defense looming, Howard’s breakout campaign appeared to be dead. No one told him that, though.
“I never lost faith in myself,” Howard says. “When I was third string, I didn’t lose faith. You can never lose faith. I always stay positive.”
And he positively destroyed the Vikings. The Bears pulled off a colossal upset thanks to Howard’s incredible game. He rushed for 153 yards and a touchdown and added another 49 yards on four catches to give him his first 200-yard game of his career. In Week 17, after the Vikings’ season had already crashed and burned in spectacular fashion, Howard went in to Minnesota and burned them again for 135 yards.
But it was the Week 13 game against San Francisco that really defined what Howard is capable of, in terms of both carrying the ball and the burden of leadership. In a winter game that looked like it took place on Hoth, Howard single-handedly humiliated the 49ers by rushing for 117 yards and three touchdowns. (Even diehard Bears fan Jeremy Piven was delighted by Howard’s effort.) That doesn’t sound like the most difficult feat, considering how terrible San Fran was this season, but it paints the bigger picture of Howard’s success. Defenses knew he’d be the focus, so they stacked the box play after play, and he still managed to beat them.
Following the Bears’ Week 9 bye, Howard failed to crack 100 total yards one time for the rest of the season (99 against the Giants in Week 11). His ability to move the ball behind a battered line allowed for receivers like Cam Meredith and Deonte Thompson to have breakout games, while Matt Barkley, the third-string QB, did his best to keep the Bears from being blown out each week. Howard’s 1,611 total yards should have been enough to get him to the Pro Bowl, without David Johnson’s season-ending knee injury opening a door.
But being an alternate is still just as good for a guy who started the season as the bottom of the depth chart.
“To be out here representing the Bears is a big accomplishment,” Howard said. “I always wanted to go to the Pro Bowl, but I wasn’t expecting to go in my first year. A lot of people never make it to a Pro Bowl, so I’m very grateful.”
Howard isn’t alone in Orlando. He’s joined by Bears offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains, who pointed out the obvious: “Jordan had a heck of a year.”
While the coaching seats are certainly warming up in Chicago, Loggains told reporters that he is excited about what a Pro Bowl experience can mean to a young star in the making like the Bears’ clear-cut 2017 starter, especially since he did this all by himself and without the benefit of a veteran RB presence.
“It’s just being around those other pros,” Loggains told reporters. “That’s invaluable for a young kid who’s hungry and excited. “I think Jordan hasn’t yet scratched the surface on what he can be. So maybe he’ll learn how to take care of his body better from some of those guys. They are pros who have been doing this for a long time. And I think that’s the biggest thing he’ll have.”
There’s also the rivalry aspect, in terms of Howard seeing the attention that Elliott received and working to get a piece of the spotlight. Howard didn’t acknowledge the crowd’s overwhelming enthusiasm for his fellow rookie, but that’s because he has bigger things on his mind this weekend and beyond. For starters, his presence at the Pro Bowl gives him the opportunity to amplify his platform of raising awareness for and battling pulmonary fibrosis, the disease that took his father’s life 10 years ago.
“My dad was my best friend and I miss him every day,” Howard told AI.com. “Ten years is like yesterday to me. I want everyone affected by pulmonary fibrosis to keep fighting, keep having hope and faith and keep believing there will be a cure.”
Hopefully, the alternate will get an extended chance to display his talents at the Pro Bowl on Sunday. Like Elliott, Johnson, and LeVeon Bell, among others, Howard is an example of the return of the star running back. Whether or not Howard does it again will be up to the football gods (and the Bears’ medical staff), but his goal for 2017 is simple: “Make the playoffs.”
Could Cutler stick around another season and try to stay healthy behind a complete offensive line? Or will Barkley be the guy leading the Bears’ passing attack in 2017? Perhaps the answer will come in the form of one of Elliott’s soon-to-be former teammates who would also love to prove he can still make a playoff push. Time will tell, but Howard’s positivity will get him through it.
“I don’t know what [the Bears] are going to do, but Matt Barkley performed pretty well when he had the chance,” Howard explained. “But whatever the guys decide, I will be behind it.”
