HOUSTON – The Bears fell behind by double digits Sunday night in Houston for the second straight game. But unlike last weekend's exciting comeback win over the Titans, they were unable to mount a rally in a 19-13 loss to the Texans.
Houston produced a touchdown and two field goals on its first three possessions of the game in taking a 13-3 lead. The Bears cut the deficit to 13-10 on running back Khalil Herbert's 2-yard touchdown run with :32 left in the first half. But that's as close as the Bears would get.
"Obviously we're all disappointed in the loss and we should be," said coach Matt Eberflus. "I told the guys in [the locker room] in the NF,L it's how you respond that matters. This is going to hurt for 24 hours. We need to look at the tape on the plane later and get with your coach, get to your meetings and make sure that we make the corrections needed to win a football game."
The Bears defense allowed only one touchdown and four long Ka'imi Fairbairn field goals of 56, 47, 59 and 53 yards in the game. After permitting the Texans to score on four of five possessions in the first half, the defense yielded just one field goal in the second half, forcing five punts and generating one takeaway.
But the Bears offense only scored three points in the second half, a Cairo Santos 54-yard field goal which made it a one-score game at 19-13 with 2:51 remaining.
The defense followed with a three-and-out and the offense took over at its own 20 with 1:37 to play. Caleb Williams completed a 27-yard pass to Rome Odunze on the first play to the 47. But Williams was sacked for an 8-yard loss on second-and-10 and then was unable to connect with Odunze on fourth-and-17, turning the ball over on downs with :30 remaining.
"What I was most proud of is that the guys fought all the way until the end and we had a chance to win the game on our last possession," Eberflus said. "We didn't get it done. My hat's off to Houston, the way they operated there. They won the game today."
Williams completed 23 of 37 passes for 174 yards with no TDs, two interceptions and a 51.0 passer rating. The rookie quarterback was sacked seven times.
"The offensive line, everyone is going to talk about those type of things," Eberflus said. "I believe that protection is everybody. Protection is the tight ends, it's the runners, it's the offensive line, it's the quarterback, it's everybody involved. So we have to do a really good job with that and take a look at that."
Williams was asked what frustrated him most about the loss.
"Not coming out with a win, not executing when we needed to as a team, myself throwing two interceptions," Williams said. "It's not something that I've done, something that I do is turn the ball over. It's really not my thing. I think those things probably are the things I'm most frustrated about."
Bears running backs D'Andre Swift (14 carries for 18 yards), Travis Homer (1-6) and Herbert (2-3) combined to rush for 27 yards on 17 attempts. Williams led the Bears in rushing with 44 yards on five carries.
"We want to run the ball better than what we did," Eberflus said. "It was OK, but not good enough. We've got to establish the run game. I think it's always a good friend to a young quarterback when you can do that."
Gameday Gallery: Bears vs. Texans | 2024 Week 2
Check out the action from Houston as the Bears battle the Texans on Sunday Night Football.
Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud completed 23 of 36 passes for 260 yards with one TD, no turnovers and a 94.7 passer rating. Nico Collins led Houston in receiving with eight catches for 135 yards and his team's only TD on a 28-yard reception.
The Texans took a 3-0 lead on the game's opening possession on Fairbairn's 56-yard field goal. The drive was sustained by Stroud's 8-yard pass to running back Joe Mixon on third-and-6.
The Bears answered, tying the score 3-3 on Santos' 53-yard field goal. Williams completed 5 of 5 passes for 55 yards on the possession, including a 14-yard laser beam to receiver DeAndre Carter on the right sideline on third-and-12.
The Texans retook a 10-3 lead on Stroud's TD pass to Collins on second-and-24 on the first play of the second quarter. It came one snap after Collins had drawn a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for hitting cornerback Tyrique Stevenson in the facemask.
Stroud was 4 of 4 for 70 yards on the drive, including an 18-yard completion to tight end Cade Stover on a play-action pass on fourth-and-1 from the 50.
After the Bears went three-and-out, the Texans increased their lead to 13-3 on Fairbairn's 47-yard field goal. The drive was sustained by Stroud's 21-yard pass to receiver Stefon Diggs on third-and-10 from the Houston 23.
The Bears later scored their first offensive touchdown of the season on Herbert's 2-yard run, cutting the deficit to 13-10 with :32 left in the half. The TD came after receiver Carter drew a pass interference penalty on safety Calen Bullock at the Texans' 6 on a third-and-14 play from the 30.
Fairbairn's 59-yard field goal widened the margin to 16-10 with :01 left in the half. The kick was set up by Stroud's 16-yard pass to Collins along the sideline.
Both teams punted on their first three possessions of the second half before Williams committed the first turnover of the game when his long pass intended for DJ Moore was intercepted by cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. at the Houston 34.
The Texans converted the takeaway into Fairbairn's 53-yard field goal, widening the margin to 19-10 with 13:39 left in the fourth quarter.
Williams was then intercepted on a second straight drive when his pass intended for Cole Kmet was picked off by cornerback Kamari Lassiter.
The Texans reached the Bears' 4. But on first-and-goal, Andrew Billings forced running back Cam Akers to fumble, and Kevin Byard III recovered at the 3.
Converting the takeaway, Santos made it a one-score game at 19-13 with a 54-yard field goal with 2:51 remaining. But the Bears were unable to complete the rally.
"We didn't execute the way we needed to," Williams said. "We're going to keep getting better. Everything is about the response. It's Week 2. I'm a young guy, but I understand it's a long season. I understand that it's Week 2, understanding that we're going to respond and get better every day."
