Defense
- Houston came out showing run to draw an eighth guy into the box to weaken the coverage, then was passing.
- Matt Schaub came out throwing high but seemed to settle down.
- Major Wright looked like he came to play with some nice tackles, especially early.
- Color man Cris Collinsworth did a good job of pointing out early that the Bears were trying to set the edge to turn Arian Foster inside. The Packers beat the Texans by consistently doing exactly that.
- Foster is deceptively strong and he’s particularly good at using it to break tackles.
- Andre Johnson is one of the best wide receivers in the league, raking in my mind with Calvin Johnson when he’s healthy. He certainly show some skills tonight.
- Despite knowing that the Texans were going to do it, the Bears still got caught over pursuing to the ball and some big holes opened up in the run game in the first half because of it. They tightened things up later in the game.
- I thought the defensive effort this game was particularly good overall. It seemed to me like almost everyone was taking advantage of their opportunities and making plays.
Offense
- Brad Biggs pointed out on Twitter early in the game that the Bears were double teaming J.J. Watt with Gabe Carimi and reserve tackle Jonathan Scott.
- I’m thinking Jay Cutler was told that when the Texans rushed three that he should look to run through one of the resulting holes. Sounded like a good plan.
- The Bears wide receivers really struggled to get open against the Houston defensive backs, including Brandon Marshall who had to fight for every reception. Jonathan Joseph is about as good a cover corner as anyone I’ve seen this year and certainly better than anyone the Bears have seen this year.
- The Bears were 1-4 on third down and 0-1 on fourth down in the first half.
- Miserable game for Kellen Davis (again). You name it, he struggled to do it.
- Despite the fact that the Bears ran out of the double tightend formation and gave them a lot of help most of the game, I have to give the offensive line credit. I thought they did a good job of protecting Cutler and Jason Campbell. And there were times when the running game worked OK as the line pushed around the Houston front. But Houston eventually shut it down and dared them to throw to receivers who couldn’t get open.
Miscellaneous
- I’ve been accused repeatedly of being too soft on the announcing teams that the Bears have gotten this year. The problem is that they are drawing national games with the best commentators. This game was no different as Al Michaels is always clear, Michelle Tafoya is as competent as any sideline reporter you’ll find and Cris Collinsworth, for my money, is the best color man in the business. Collinsworth is particularly adept at pointing out little things a fan might miss, like facts about the coverage that can’t be seen on television. He made another good point when he highlighted the fact that the Bears defensive ends were taking an inside track to penetrate against the Houston offensive tackles and set the edge. The Houston offensive tackles were jumping outside under the assumption that was where the Bears ends would go.
- Drops finally reared their ugly head this game for the Bears. Brandon Marshall had an awful one in the endzone in the second quarter. Kellen Davis and Matt Forte each had drops as well.
- The good news is that the recent penchant that the Bears have had for committing a lot of penalties didn’t appear. Other than a couple holding calls on Chilo Rachal, the game was relatively clean for the Bears.
- Special teams were nondescript but its hard to complain when the other team is afraid to kick the ball deep. The Bears had good field position. The missed Robbie Gould field goal in the fourth quarter hurt.
- I don’t think I have to say much about turnovers, do I? From the first play of the game where Kellen Davis gave away a fumble it was a travesty. Awfully hard to win football games that way.
- Nice to see Virginia McCaskey looking and sounding so good on her Veterans Day commercial.
- The easiest thing to do here would be to talk about how turnovers are death, blah, blah, blah but I think we all know that. Instead I’d like to express how much I thoroughly enjoyed this game. I understand how odd that sounds after a Bears loss but, with the exception of the turnovers, the team met of exceeded my expectations in most ways. Even the Bears offensive line really did a reasonable job all things considered. The Bears defense went up against what I thought was a pretty good offense that played reasonably well and showed their metal.I thought this was a good, physical, competitive hard fought game that any fan should appreciate.