Bears RB Howard hopes Nagy can alter 'basic' offense

Chicago Bears running back Jordan Howard is hopeful that new coach Matt Nagy can open up the team's "basic" offense.

Howard faced stacked boxes this past season under then-coach John Fox. With the offensive-minded Nagy now at the helm, the 23-year-old Howard is expressing optimism for the upcoming season.

"I felt great about that because last year we were pretty much basic and everybody knew what we were going do, they knew what was coming pretty much every play so it was pretty easy for them to stop us," Howard said Thursday on Good Morning Football.

"Now, I feel like we're going to be a lot more creative and have defenses off balance."

To his credit, Howard rushed for 1,122 yards with nine touchdowns in 16 games this season.

Despite his success, the Bears ranked third-worst in average yards per game (287.4) and dead last with 175.7 passing yards per contest. By comparison, the Chiefs finished sixth in points (25.9) and fifth in total offense (375.4 yards) in 2017.

Mark Helfrich was hired as the Bears' offensive coordinator this offseason after residing as Oregon's head coach for the past four years. Helfrich won 33 games in his first three seasons and went to the first College Football Playoff championship game before being fired after going 4-8 during the 2016 campaign.