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Jordan Howard is the 1st Bear ever with 1,000 yards rushing in each of his 1st 2 seasons

Howard keeps making history.

By Jack M Silverstein
Chicago Bears v Cincinnati Bengals Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Walter Payton didn’t do it.

Neither did Gale Sayers, Matt Forte, Red Grange, Bronko Nagurski, Willie Galimore, Neal Anderson, Thomas Jones, Anthony Thomas.

No one except for Jordan Howard.

In today’s 33-7 win over the Bengals, Howard became the first Bear ever to rush for 1,000 yards in each of his first two seasons. Forte, A-Train, Rashaan Salaam, Sweetness, Sayers, Rick Casares, and Beattie Feathers each did it once in their first two seasons.

Howard set a Bears rookie record last year with 1,313 rushing yards, breaking Forte’s mark of 1,238. With 147 yards today on 23 carries, Howard has 1,032 rushing yards on the season. He entered the day 5th in the league with 885 yards on the ground.

More on Howard’s record-breaking 2nd season:

  • Howard’s 147 yards gives him 2,345 for his career, passing Thomas Jones’s 2,283 for the most by a Bear in his first two seasons with the team. (TJ isn’t on this list because it’s just players who the Bears drafted. If anyone can think of any Bears acquired via free agency or a trade with more rushing yards in their first two seasons than Howard, please drop it in the comments.)
  • Today was Howard’s 5th 100-yard rushing game of the season — he joins Walter Payton as the only Bears with multiple seasons of 5+ 100-yard rushing games in a year. (Payton did it eight times.)
  • Howard is on pace for 1,270 yards rushing. If he clears 1,300, he will join Payton as the only Bears with multiple 1,300-yard rushing seasons.
  • With two rushing touchdowns today, Howard has seven on the season with three games to go, needing three more for 10 on the year. The last time a Bear scored 10 rushing TDs in a season? Raymont Harris, 20 years ago.

This dude is playing amazing ball and should be heading back to the Pro Bowl. Salute to the Bulldozer!

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Jack M Silverstein is WCG’s Bears historian, and author of “How The GOAT Was Built: 6 Life Lessons From the 1996 Chicago Bulls.” Say hey at @readjack.

This article was made possible by the invaluable Pro Football Reference.

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