Bears’ 2-point trick has been up Caldwell’s sleeve
Allen Park — Did you happen to catch the crazy two-point conversion the Chicago Bears executed Monday night?
Boiled down in the simplest terms, quarterback Mitchell Trubisky handed off to running back Jordan Howard running right. The back handed off to tight end Zach Miller, running a reverse, and he pitched the ball back to Trubisky on an apparent read-option.
Got all that?
The play was originally designed by former Tampa Bay coordinator Les Steckel, who ran it in 2000.
Lions coach Jim Caldwell arrived in Tampa the season after Steckel was fired, but found the play on film and has tried to implement it at his other stops.
“I go to Indy, and at one point in time talking to Tom Moore, who was the offensive coordinator, and told him, ‘Hey Tom, we got this pretty interesting play when you just got to have it on a 2-point play, you might think of this,’ ” Caldwell said. “And you got to know Tom, Tom’s not one of those guys that ever thinks that you got to trick people to win, right? So, he says to me… ‘Jim, I think that’s the kind of play that you run when you got a long-term contract and mine’s not that long.’ ”
“Obviously, we didn’t put it in there, but we did put it in in Baltimore,” Caldwell said about his brief stint as the Ravens offensive coordinator. “We just didn’t have the occasion to use it.”
Caldwell didn’t mention whether the Lions had the play in their playbook, but they certainly have the pieces to execute it, especially with quarterback Matthew Stafford’s increased mobility the past two seasons.
Rogers: Caldwell has no good answer for Lions’ OL problems
Injuries update
T.J. Lang (back) and Ziggy Ansah (knee) both returned to practice Thursday in a limited capacity. Wide receiver Kenny Golladay (hamstring) and running back Dwayne Washington also remained limited after returning Wednesday.
Starting left tackle Greg Robinson missed practice, but it was not injury related.
jdrogers@detroitnews.com
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