5 big takeaways from Chicago Bears’ Week 2 loss to the Houston Texans in primetime

HOUSTON – Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears offense had a rough night in Houston.

The Texans beat the Bears, 19-13, on the “Sunday Night Football” primetime matchup at NRG Stadium. CJ Stroud and the Texans scored just one touchdown, but the Bears offense couldn’t keep up.

The Bears dropped to 1-1 on the season. Their offense hasn’t looked good in either of their first two games.

Below are the five big takeaways from Sunday night’s matchup.

1. An offensive line disaster

Alarm bells were ringing a week ago when the Bears offensive line struggled, despite winning the season opener. With a dangerous pass rush featuring Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr., Houston had no trouble exposing what appears to be a clear weakness for the Bears.

The Texans sacked Williams seven times. They hit him 11 times in the game. Hunter and Anderson each had 1.5 sacks. They challenged Bears tackles Darnell Wright and Braxton Jones.

That was just one part of the problem though. The Bears had some clear communication issues. They were penalized four times for false starts. When they weren’t being penalized, they weren’t always on the same page.

They struggled in the pass game and they struggled in the run game. The Bears rushed for only 71 yards on Sunday. Williams threw for 174 yards with two interceptions.

Per NFL Next Gen Stats, the Texans blitzed on 41.7% of plays. They generated 12 pressure and five sacks when blitzing.

“It’s nobody’s direct fault,” said Jones, the left tackle. “I think as a unit we all want to be better and that starts with everybody.”

2. Defense keeps doing its thing

Week 2 confirmed it. The Bears defense has picked up right where it left off.

The Bears had three takeaways last week vs. Tennessee. Though they forced only one turnover on Sunday, they kept the Texans out of the end zone. Houston had to settle for four field goals and found the end zone just once. Receiver Nico Collins capitalized on a 28-yard touchdown reception from Stroud in the first half.

Other than that, the Bears kept Stroud relatively in check. Houston scored 13 points on its first three possession, then struggled in the second half. Stroud finished 23-for-36 passing for 260 yards with one touchdown.

“As a defense, we’ve got to continue to assist our offense,” veteran safety Kevin Byard said. “They’re working through things right now. That’s just the reality of this league. Ain’t nobody gonna feel sorry for us. We got to find a way to try to win, just like we did last week.”

Byard had a fumble recovery in the fourth quarter when the Texans looked like they were going to put the game away. It gave the Bears a glimmer of hope late in the game.

3. One last chance

With all that being said, the Bears had one final drive with a chance to win the game, trailing by six point in the final minutes. Williams connected with Rome Odunze for a 27-yard gain. It was the longest pass play of the night for the Bears.

Ultimately, though, a sack from Hunter all but sealed the deal. The Bears turned it over on downs two plays later.

Odunze finished the night with two catches for 33 yards, while DJ Moore caught six passes for 53 yards. The Bears were without veteran receiver Keenan Allen, who missed the game with a heel injury.

Odunze was questionable due to a knee injury he suffered last week, but he did feel well enough to play in the game.

“I wouldn’t say 100%, definitely some soreness in there, but I felt like I had enough to go out there and compete,” Odunze said. “So it wasn’t an excuse.”

The offensive line issues made it hard for any of the receivers to be effective.

“The flags just got to stop,” Moore said. “We’ve got to figure out a way to be better and not have those. I mean, it starts in practice.”

Williams threw two interceptions in the game. Running back Khalil Herbert scored the Bears’ only touchdown on a 2-yard run.

4. Failed challenges

Bears head coach Matt Eberflus lost both his challenges on Sunday night, and neither was particularly close. The Bears had to make quick decisions both times, but both appeared to be easy decisions for the referees. One came on a Stefon Diggs catch for Houston. The other was on a near interception for Bears cornerback Kyler Gordon.

The head coach defended his challenge process after the game.

“We have a good process for that,” Eberflus said. “It’s a little bit different when you can’t see the monitor right away and it’s a critical play like a third down or a takeaway. But we have a great process.”

Asked what the team can do to clean up the failed challenges, Eberflus said his staff has “been pretty clean” with challenges in his two-plus years on the job.

After two failed challenges Sunday, Eberflus has had two of his seven career challenges overturned as a head coach. On the other five challenges, the referees upheld the original call.

5. Where do they go from here?

As tight end Cole Kmet pointed out, it’s Week 2.

“I don’t want to freak out here,” Kmet said. “We’ve got 15 more of these left. It’s a long season. There’s a whole lot of ball left.”

There’s a lot to clean up, that’s for certain. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. The offensive line has to be better. Eberflus believes it takes all 11 players to protect the quarterback.

“That’s an everybody thing,” Eberflus said. “We’ve got to do a great job with the O-line, tight ends, [running] backs. He’s got to have rhythm and timing on the passes.”

Williams left NRG Stadium “a little bruised,” he said, but he vowed to be better. He seemed especially miffed by the two interceptions. Over three seasons in college, he had just two games where he threw multiple interceptions.

“[I’m] understanding and trying to figure out what I need to get better at,” Williams said. “Just trying to figure out what areas was I off.”