Bears and Texans In-Game Blog: Texans 19, Bears 13 FINAL

Live reporting and analysis as the Bears play against the Houston Texans in Week 2 looking to go 2-0 on a season for the first time since starting 3-0 in 2020.

Will Anderson gets the sack and Danielle Hunter applies pressure on Caleb Williams in Sunday night's Bears loss to the Texans. / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Fourth Quarter

• Caleb 22 of 37 for 174 with two interceptions. Stroud 23 of 36, 260 and a TD. Bears with 71 yards rushing.

• Incomplete back shoulder to Odunze. Game over. Texans 19, Bears 13.

• Williams attempts to scramble and goes nowhere but the Bears have 30 seconds left and it's fourth-and-17.

• Finally Odunze suffers with a catch and run to the 47. But a pass to Gerald Everett is dropped and Danielle Hunter gets the sack. Third down and the clock is running.

• Bears at the 1:37 out of timeouts and need a TD.

• With 1:45 left the Texans must punt from their 36.

• Howard yanked off Montez Sweat's helmet so a scramble for the first down is wiped out and the Bears should get the ball back. It's third-and-17.

• They let the clock run on the first down play in order to stop it after the third-down play and the Texans face third down now. TWO-MINUTE WARNING!!!!

• Last thing they needed at this point was a big return but it's brought back to near the 40. Special teams has gone to the Texans tonight.

• With 2:51 left, the Bears have only one timeout remaining because of the wasted one on the Kyler Gordon pick-6. That's costly now because the two-minute warning and one other stoppage leaves them with a running clock after third down.

• Incomplete for back shoulder to Moore and Bears trying a 54-yard field goal. Santos makes it and Bears are down 19-13. That's 6 1/2 covered.

• Edwards gets the cheap hit penalty for helmet to helmet. What a surprise. King of dirty plays with the penalty. First down Bears.

• Grunding call against Williams. Apparently you can't get hit while throwing and have the ball come out errantly. So remember that one.

• If nothing else came of this with the offense, at least they've rediscovered Kmet. He picks up the first down, and Jalen Pitre blasts him hard but no penalty for a shot to the head. Looked too low.

• Williams scrambles upfield for the first down but the Bears face third-and-3.

• It's easy to be impressed with the Texans defense but if Mario Edwards is one of your key defensive lineman you better use the waiver wire.

• Byard with the big fumble recovery off a forced fumble caused on a big hit from Billings. Bears have it back but the clock isn't on their side at all. A physical, brutal game.

• Pass to Schultz to the 4-yard line, a 16-yarder and the clock keeps winding.

• Cam Akers breaks one to the 25 as the defensive line keeps gettnig pushed back now. This is what happened to Shane Waldron's offense in Seattle. No possession time. Defense wore out.

• Bears defense looks tired now. They've been out there too long

• Mario Edwards gets his revenge on the Bears with asack at the 2. Texans take over after a punt return to the 44 of the Bears.

• A 3-yard Swift run and the Texans blitz Williams into a throwaway on second down.

• Bears pinned back at the 6 after a punt. Only 10:43 remaining. They've played a heady game and the defense recovered after a shaky start but there isn't enough offense yet with the running game struggling badly and Keenan Allen out. Texans devoting a lot of coverage to DJ. Rome Odunze hasn't obviously figured things out yet, and is playing with a sore knee.

• Jack Sackborn. Gets the blitz and sack and Texans back at the 50.

• Trying to make a play after shaking off Danielle Hunter's high sack attempt, Williams throws on the run to open Cole Kmet but underthrows it and Lassiter picked it off. He stepped out of bounds about one step upfield on the return and officials didn't see it. Gave Texans the ball at the Bears 43. They're blind.

• Bears at the 30 looking to get back into this down by nine and Jalen Pitre smears Swift on a swing pass in the backfield. One swing pass too many.

• Stevenson a brutal physical PBU and the Texans settle for another field goal try. Fairbairn gets a 53-yarder. His sixth 50-plus this year.

• Mixon back in the game. Apparently the "hip drop" didn't take him out of the game for long.

• Third-and-8 for the Texans at the 36 and STroud on the run finds Collins as he avoids a sack at the Bears 38. The zone didn't adjust as the launch point moved.

Third Quarter

• TFL by Kyler Gordon charging in on first down on the jet sweep by Diggs. Big loss of 5 yards. Quarter ends after a completion.

• Bears facing third-and-16. Impossible down. Williams tries lobbing one to Moore but doesn't put the ball where he needs it and Derek Stingley intercepts it at the 33. First Williams interception.

• A lateral to Moore on a play that looks like one they would give Velus Jones because it came out of the backfield, and he gets a few yards but Swift held and they are back to their 38.

• Swift gets nothing on a pitch as the running game, which showed signs of life, suddenly screeches to a hault.

• Swift gets 6 on first down but a holding penalty against the defense on a second-down run gives the Bears a first down. A really dumb penalty.

• Not overturned and Bears lose the challenge and a timeout. But they get the ball back after Gervon Dexter's brilliant sack of Stroud on third down.

• Pick-6 by Gordon but official rules it incomplete and the Bears want to look at. He made the catch and controlled it. But it did ht the ground with his hand underneath the ball in control. Not sure what they'll call. I can't imagine they'll see enough to overturn their call. The NBC announces think it's incomplete and are right probably, in between their rant about the hip drop that wasn't a hip drop because Edwards did not pin anything under his hip. The leg was free all the way until the back hit the ground. Wow. They need to send those two to watch some of the officials' film that they bring to the NFL practice sites every year.

• Dalton Schultz with a short catch at the sidelines and knocked down by Byard. The Texans have second-and-5 at their 28.

• Will Anderson blindside sack of Williams after beating a Cole Kmet block. So they punt after a very eventful and unsuccessful drive.

• D'Andre Swift with a big catch and run on a swing pass and the Bears have third-and-1.

• Another cheap shot on Williams. He might not have been out of bounds, but it was still cheap. He turned his back to the hit so it wasn't as bad of an impact. Roschon Johnson was punched in the face on the play, too. No penalty.

• DJ Moore with a WR screen breaking tackles like the game with Buffalo and gets a first down to the 50. And another penalty on Davis for false start.

• First Caleb Williams career interception and a holding penalty on Lassiter for grabbing Rome Odunze. Mario Edwards, the former Bear, put in a late, unpenalized cheap shot on Williams.

• Bears at the 34 with 8:56 remaining and the Bears get a delay of game penalty. It's hard to believe they reset that play clock properly. Kmet gets back the penalty yards plus some.

• Stroud tries throwing into the danger zone and Stefon Diggs didn't get it. More smothering coverage by the Bears secondary. Three fast plays and out but Elijah Hicks helps the Texans out with a hold on the punt.

• Laremy Tunsil with his fourth penalty on the year, a false start. Lets go Bears chants start.

• Two incompletions for the Texans and are facing third-and-10. Tyrique Stevenson with excellent coverage over the middle.

• Again the announcing crew bringing up that play calling it a hip drop. Not even close. Terrible announcing. Officials missed late hit on Williams as he scrambled on third down and so they punt and got the benefit of an illegal block. Texans basically had the field flipped by the great punt from Tory Taylor and the penalty. They'll start from back at the 14.

• Interference downfield at th 13 and there was no way Kmet could have caught it, but it should have been a holding call and not interference. Obvious hold. Officials making a mistake again.

• Stroud can't find Dell on the run downfield and the Bears get it back on a punt. They nearly blocked a punt for the second straight week but the ball rolls to the 7.

• Tyrique hits Mixon and bounces off on a pass but T.J. Edwards hits Mixon and he has to leave the game. Clean tackle. Not the hip drop. Hearing the Sunday night crew bringing up the hip drop. That wasn't even close.

• Byard big TFL on a pass in the flat. Not to diminish Eddie Jackson's contributions over the years but last year's Eddie does not come up and make that play in the open field.

• After all that they hit an easy slant to Nico in front of Stevenson and Byard in a zone out to the 27.

• Big hit by Stevenson on a 2-yard Mixon run but the chain gang guy somehow tripped himself behind the play and they're administering to him. No one was anywhere near him. He just tripped himself up. Tripped over 20-yard marker backing up and hit his head on ground. His eyes look like a concussion. Not fun, having had one from an errant golf ball once.

LOOK KMET I KNOW HIM pic.twitter.com/ICh9aI5X69

— liz (@lissette2s) September 16, 2024

• Caleb overthrows Carter wide open running 25 yards downfield and the Bears punt. Tory Taylor delivers, as usual. He pinned them inside the 10 as officials also missed two holds. Must be tired of calling penalties.

• Kmet! They found him. A 4-yarder. Officials moved it back a yard for no reason. Then Swift powers off right tackle to make it third-and-3.

• Bears start the second half at their 30 after the obligatory touchback. Sure glad they improved kickoffs. Wow. This play needs to go before the season ends.

• Williams' timing is much better but he's being hurt by not having Keenan Allen available constantly over the middle. And what of Cole Kmet?

Second Quarter

• Caleb 12 of 15 for 91. Stroud 14 of 19 for 173. The Bears have 18 rushing yards. This has become a real problem. Leading rusher: Caleb Williams with 9 thanks to his gutty 9-yard scramble inside the 10.

• Fairbairn sneaks the 59-yard kick in just over the bar and about a foot inside the left upright. Texans 16, Bears 10

• Stroud throws it away with six seconds left and Fairbairn will try a 59-yarder.

• A false start and Texans face a 58- or 59-yard field goal at this point.

• A scrmabling throw to Collins at the Bears 36 in front of Kevin Byard. It's questionable whether he got the ball. He had one foot in. If they say he had control with one hand and a foot on the ground they're wrong. He was out of bounds. Eberflus took a timeout because he had no challenge left. Texans with nine seconds left and no timeouts at Bears 36. Texans win challenge, quesitonable.

• Amen Ogbongbemiga decided to take off on a sprint before the kickoff and Bears got a 5-yard penalty, then allowed a completion with the clock running. Here is an example of Eberflus playing soft zone and giving up too many yards underneath. With 18 seconds left, Houston has one timeout left at its 48.

• A big drive because they need to be back withi a score of the Texans' explosive offense. But bigger is the finish t the half and there's plenty of time for Texans to drive into field goal range.

• Caleb Williams hands it to Khalil Herbert on a good-old fashioned sweep. TD and the Bears are within 13-10 with their first TD on offense this year. Texans 13, Bears 10

• Caleb bulldozes a dscramble to the 2. Great run and Odunze can't hold the lob in the middle of the field with 35 seconds left on second down.

• Big Dog comes in the game and false-starts. Wow. That's a killer.

• False start by Darnell Wright and Bears are looking at third-and-14 and rookie Calen Bullock is burned for pass interference on a skinny post to DeAndre Carter at the Texans' 6.

• Bears looking at a third-and-8 at the 24 after a couple yards on a throw over the middle to Khalil Herbert.

• No gain on a catch to Gerald Everett. The Bears tried to run a tight end screen behind two wide receivers and it went nowhere.

• Remember Roschon Johnson? He's on a milk carton even while he's active.

• TWO-MINUTE WARNING!!! Six quarters and Bears still looking for first offensive touchdown this season.

• Play-action for 7 to Swift. Caleb Williams made the play with a great fake. On third-and-3 from the Texans 42, it's Mr. Third Down again for 16, DJ Moore. He got separation and then YAC.

• Finally a 3-and-out and two can play at this game. They brought Tremaine Edmunds in the A-gap for the sack. So the punt from the goal line is a weak 38-yarder and the Bears start in Texans territory.

• A well-designed screen and the Texans are facing third-and-4. Brought it back to the short side of the field.

• Six minutes left in half and Texans start at the 13 after Tory Taylor's punt. Jaquan Brisker stacks it up for a TFL.

• Another blitz and another sack. Waldron needs to come up with something to counter the five-man rush. It should be easy enough. Teams committing to five-man rushes should be easy to burn. They have to punt again.

• Nate Davis moves. They wasted a timeout for that.

• Poor screen throw by Williams on second-and-4. Should have completed it and they could have taken that one for 10 or 15 yards. On third-and-4 they waste another timeout. Have to burn one.

• A silly fourth-down gamble by Eberflus with 8 1/2 minutes left in the half and they barely get the first down. Really questionable if Khalil Herbert was there.

• Two runs by Swift leave the Bears facing third-and-inches and the sneak loses yardage. Their offensive line can't budge anyone.

• Caleb starts this drive with 9:55 left int he half at the 30.

• Last week the defensive guys said they were going to need the offense come through for them at some point in the future. This is the week because the defense doesn't seem able to stop the Texans.

• Texans lose the challenge and the timeout but now are only inches away, and for some reason they are kicking a field goal. Fairbairn kicks a 47-yarder. Texans 13, Bears 3

• This rule that the ball is marked where it goes out of bounds if the ball carrier is in the air is for the birds. The only way to judge that is if you had a drone flying on the sidelines. It's like trying to spot a punt that goes way out of bounds in the air.

• Texans facing third-and-6 at the Bears 34 and a completion to Diggs comes up short by about 2 yards. They challenge it.

• Stroud with a brillian throw on the run with Darrell Taylor on his heels and takes the hit but completes it to the 38 of the Bears to Collins.

• Eberflus just wasted one on a challenge to a third-down conversion by Stefon Diggs on his first catch. That one was obvious and for some reason they challenged it. It will be interesting to find out why he did challenge it because it was clear as a bell from the time he caught it that he had dragged his second foot.

• Bears run defense appears to have stiffened and Texans go to the air out of a naked backfield on second-and-10 but Jaylon Johnson is not having any of it. He knocked down a throw over the middle to Joe Mixon. Physical, effective.

• Williams nearly sacked and throws it away on third and long so they punt. Williams avoided making a turnover on a dumb throw, but the drive went nowhere. Shane Waldron needs to get some physical running plays going because they're soft right now.

• This running game issue is continuing and it's what I expected. They never were really a good running team when Justin Fields was here. They were a Fields scrambling team and scaring teams off the line so the backs could gain yardage. These linemen need to start working on their blocking techniques in the running game.

• Collins gets his revenge by taking a post to the end zone for the 28-yard TD. Stevenson committed a hands-to-the-face penalty on it. Texans 10, Bears 7

First Quarter

• Nico Collins unsportsmanlike conduct for taking a poke at Tyrique Stevenson. As usual, the second guy in gets the penalty. Stevenson was taunting him with a finger in his face. Before, no one would have cared, but the officials made such a stink a few years ago about taunting, they need to be consistent with it. Ball back at the 28. Quarter ends.

• An end-around to the 14 and the Bears defense is backpedlaing.

• Texans are going to test Bears on fourth-and a half yard. and TE Cade Stover catches his first pass coming out of the backfield to the Bears 32.

• The Sweat effect is a bat down on second-and-7 and if Andrew Billings had turned around he could have picked it.

• An 18-yard completion to Nico Collins slanting and Kyler Gordon can't keep up with him. Gordon isn't small but nothing close to Collins, who is 6-4 and about 222.

• Texans put themselves in a hole with a hold and Bears will have a field position edge. An easy call.

• They bring five and Williams holds the ball too long for a sack, almost out of field goal range. But not quite. Santos hits the crossbar and through. Doink and good. On replay, it appeared to hit the camera and not the crossbar, so it was through easily. An 11-play, 42-yard drive to the tying field goal. Bears 3, Texans 3.

• A third-and-8 from the 25 for the Bears. They'll need to dial up another big third-down play but avoid a loss.

• Mr. Third Down. DJ Moore on the slant. Yes, the Bears threw a perfect slant to the Texans 27.

• Carter with another first down catch but the Texans wipe out Swift on a first-down run. They're looking obviously to prevent the run so Williams hits Swift for a 7-yard completion on second down with a crowd closing around him.

• Danielle Hunter with a TFL on second down after shaking off BraxtonJones easily. Bears were left with third-and-12 and Williams steps into a throw to DeAndre Carter beyond the sticks. A rifle. Bears first down. Might have been his best throw of his bief career so far.

• Blocking on the left side for the Bears on the kick return and they start on their own 23.

• Kaimi Fairbairn with the 56-yard field goal, his fourth on the year without a miss and all from 50 or longer. Texans 3, Bears 0

• Billings with the heat again early in the game, the second straight week this happened. He's not a pass rusher but that was a pass rush. Texans faced third-and-12 after a short toss and they can't get it to the sticks. They're going to have to try a 56- or 57-yard field goal.

• Andrew Billings with the big hit on first down after a 16-yard run by Mixon aided by another uncalled holding penalty. The Texans' line, on film review, got away with a lot of this last week. And apparently again.

• They get the pickup with a pass to Joe Mixon and it's apparent T.J. Edwards is going to have difficulty covering out of the backfield.

• Jaquan Brisker rallies to the ball on second down for a tackle after a short completion and the Bears have the Texans facing third-and-6.

• A pass tipped by Jack Sanborn on the first play for an incompletion but blatant hold on Texans offensive line on incompletion.

• Bears kick it off in their silly orange uniforms and allow a return to around the 30.

Pregame

• I'm thinking the best thing for Keenan Allen at this point, if it's been since before the last preseason game or right around it when he was hurt, and he's been resting it and it isn't better, he needs to go on IR.

Keenan Allen appeared hobbled with ~14:00 left in the 4Q.

He only played 2 more snaps rest of game in CHI’s two drives and it was after Rome Odunze left with his injury.
Both snaps, the play went to the opposite direction of Allen, & he was visibly limping/difficulty pushing off… pic.twitter.com/maKaGmcxx0

— Jeff Mueller, PT, DPT (@jmthrivept) September 14, 2024

• With the Bears short on Keenan Allen and coming off a game when they completed more than one pass to only two receivers, it's a good bet they'll be a little more focused on getting the running game going. Perhaps some carries by Roschon Johnson in this one as he's active and wasn't last week. Also, Khalil Herbert needs more than two carries. For that matter, starter D'Andre Swift should get more than 10 carries.

Someone show this to Shane Waldron @ChicagoBears #NFL https://t.co/q6HAn6lAaP

— Drunk Ryan Poles (@DrunkRyanPoles) September 15, 2024

• With Velus Jones Jr. sitting out after his fumble disaster last week, the Bears offense loses that gadget guy but do they really lose anything? He only handled it three times from scrimmage last week, with an 8-yard catch and two runs for 11 yards. This means DeAndre Carter is punt and kick returner, the exact way they finished last week. They will have a second return man back on kicks, possibly Khalil Herbert or Tyler Scott.

BEARS INACTIVES AGAINST THE TEXANS: ROME ODUNZE WILL PLAY

MORE BEARS NEWS AND VIDEOS

Too bad the #Bears can't trust Velus Jones, Jr.
It would have been nice to see him perform at NRG Stadium on their Hellas Matrix Turf

— Barroom Network | Aldo Gandia (@BarroomNetwork) September 15, 2024

• Not many plays by the Packers get the Bears to smile unless it's for a loss of yardage or a turnover, but this one had to make everyone laugh.

Matt LaFleur: “I asked Malik why he didn’t throw the ball on that 3rd down and he told me Josh threw up on the ball. That’s the first time I ever heard that”

😂😭😂 pic.twitter.com/echFVpkuSX

— Hogg (@HoggNFL) September 15, 2024

Twitter: BearsOnSI