The Bears have had a rocky go of it on offense for most of the first half, so they dug a little deeper into the playbook on the goal line in the second quarter.
After Jordan Howard was stuffed on third down, the Bears elected to keep the offense on the field and supplemented the usual players with defensive tackle Akiem Hicks. Hicks lined up as a fullback, got the ball from Chase Daniel and hammered his way through the Giants line for a touchdown. Cody Parkey’s extra point made it 14-7 with just under four minutes to play in the half.
Hicks is the fourth-heaviest player to score a rushing touchdown, per Pro Football Reference. Dontari Poe, William “Refrigerator” Perry and B.J. Raji are the heavier players to run for touchdowns and it was hard not to think of Perry when watching another Bears defensive tackle make a cameo as a ballcarrier.
The biggest plays before the touchdown both came when Daniel threw passes. One was a third down screen to tight end Trey Burton that went nowhere, but Giants defensive end Mario Edwards gave the Bears a first down with an illegal hands to the face penalty.
The other was a 30-yard catch by Allen Robinson that saw him grab the ball off of cornerback B.W. Webb’s helmet while Webb was draped all over him. There was no flag, but Robinson’s nimble hands made that a moot point.