Last Week's Review & This Week's Preview: Texans @ Bears
- nolanbul2
- Dec 11, 2020
- 10 min read
Updated: Jan 15, 2022
"I don't know."
That is the kind of response you want to hear from your Head Coach, is it not? Well, what you see above here was Coach Matt Nagy's response when asked why the team has gone south since 2018. If that does not spell clueless or hopeless for you, then I do not know what does.
As I mentioned in my last article, I have never witnessed the team go through a six-game losing streak in all of my years of watching Chicago Bears football. We have seen absolute hell with the team, specifically in the rebuilding years in the middle of the last decade, but nothing as brutal as a losing streak of that stature. Well, that changed after a severe fourth-quarter collapse lead to their first six-game losing streak since 2002.
In this article, I will discuss that painful loss to the Detroit Lions while previewing the upcoming matchup against the Houston Texans.
If you haven't already, please feel free to check out my introduction article, I had a blast putting it together. You will get to know more about me, my background, and my plans for this website here:
My Early Week Prediction For Game: Lions Win 23-20
Actual Score: Lions Win 34-30
Just When We Thought We Would Finally Get A Win…
While they never had a significant lead, the Bears were in the driver's seat for most of Sunday's contest against the Lions. It was a somewhat bright game from the start; Cornerback Buster Skrine finally made a noticeable play for once and forced a turnover on downs thanks to a phenomenal tackle right behind the line of scrimmage. That stop lead to a great rushing attack, which would result in a David Montgomery touchdown. The second-year Running Back lived up to his promising outlook for the game by scoring two total touchdowns and 111 scrimmage yards. Cordarelle Patterson also had himself a rushing touchdown, resulting in three total team rushing touchdowns by halftime. The Bears entered the game at the bottom of the league in rushing as a team, but they were fortunate enough to run into arguably the worst run defense in the league and took advantage of it.
David Montgomery, Reaching Into The Endzone For His First Touchdown Against The Lions
(Credit: National Football Post)
But you did not think that Matt Nagy would be smart here and keep that successful theme going, did you? Well, I sure hope not, because that is precisely what he decided to do. The team avoided to continue a successful rushing attack, Mitch Trubisky was unable to keep up his average performance earlier in the game, and the defense crumbled. The tragic icing on the cake came at the game's turning point when Lions Defensive End Romeo Okwara strip-sacked Trubisky within the final two-minute warning and the team would score a game-winning touchdown two plays later. You really could not imagine the Lions coming up with a win in the game, but they snuck in with a game-changing play and evoked further pain for the Bears and their fans for the season.
State Of The Opponent: Houston Texans
After starting the season losing their first four games, the Texans decided to part ways with controversial Head Coach Bill O'Brien. The mix of their awful start, not living up to expectations, the questionable trade of their star Wide Receiver DeAndre Hopkins, and mixed relationships with numerous players and personnel lead to what seemed like an inevitable outcome for O'Brien and the Texans. The move happened sooner than we thought, yet it created an even murkier picture of the Texans' remaining season.
However, the move created somewhat of a surprising spark within the team. After the 0-4 start, they have won four of their last eight games. Nothing substantial by any means, but a definite improvement. Although he had a passing touchdown-less, two turnover game against the Indianapolis Colts this past week, Quarterback Deshaun Watson has been on a tear lately and is reminding the rest of the league why he is one of the most dominant young QB's out there. Losing his top target, Wide Receiver Will Fuller, to a season-ending suspension last week does not help anyone on the offense. But we have seen fellow wide out Brandin Cooks step-up in his production earlier in the year, and Keke Coutee took advantage of his more prominent role against the Colts last week and had eight receptions for 141 yards. Even practice squad call-up Chad Hensen rose to the occasion and hit the century mark (101 yards) on five receptions.
While the newly-revived Texans have had their positives since O'Brien's firing, they certainly have plenty of negatives, too. While their passing attack has reigned as one of the best in the league, their rushing attack remains the opposite. When healthy, Running Back David Johnson has had an average season. But that has been the problem this year (and for his entire career): his health. Johnson recently came back from a three-game stint of missed games, but (as of the afternoon of this writing) sadly found himself on the COVID-19 reserve list, resulting in him missing this week's game against the Bears. Fellow Running Back Duke Johnson, a renowned pass-catching back, will take his place.
The Texans' defense has also left much to be desired in 2020 to this point. Although they are middle of the pack in the league in terms of pass defense, they (like the Detroit Lions) boast one of the league's worst run defenses. Defensive End J.J. Watt is by far my favorite defensive player in the league and deserves nothing but the best in the world. Unfortunately, their unit has declined over the years and has become a certified below-average unit.
The Deshaun Watson Revenge Show
Did you really think I was not going to talk about this?
I am beyond the point of annoyance about the "tHe BeArS cOuLd HaVe DrAfTeD mAhOmEs Or WaTsOn!" talk. It has gotten so old that I am proud of how I tuned all of it out. But does it still annoy me? 100%. It sucks; it is difficult not to think about what could have been. Worst of all, given the success of Mahomes and Watson, the fateful decision to take Mitch Trubisky over them will haunt this team for the foreseeable future.
Last season, we were finally able to see Patrick Mahomes exert his revenge against the Chicago Bears. It was Week 16 and the Bears were about to finish a disappointing season that began with Super Bowl expectations. Their last home game of the year was here and they were hosting Mahomes and his Chiefs live on national TV and under the lights on Sunday Night Football. So all of America got to see Mahomes dominate the defeated Bears squad and confidently count how many teams passed up on him after scoring a touchdown. It almost seemed inevitable heading into that game, but it was a humiliating loss nonetheless.
Deshaun Watson Depicting How He Will Attack The Bears Defense This Week (Credit: NFL.com)
Now Watson may not be on the level of Mahomes (no one is, of course, it Pat Freakin' Mahomes), and the Texans are clearly not a team as potent as the reigning Super Bowl champs, the Kansas City Chiefs. Regardless, we have to strap in and scarcely look forward to the other Quarterback we passed on in 2017, who is unquestionably looking to do the same as Mahomes did before for this week.
State Of The Bears
The 2020 Chicago Bears' tumble is rapid and ongoing; hardly anything seems like the team can reverse its course. The pleas for Nagy and General Manager Ryan Pace to be fired are as evident as ever, and it is becoming almost a bona-fide certainty that both will indeed lose their jobs by season's end. To make matters worse (or better, depending on how you look at it), Team President and CEO Ted Phillips is speculated to possibly retire at season's end, too, as fans are begging for him to be let go, as well. Some fans were even anticipating waking up to the news this past Monday morning and see them be fired that day. As we know by now, that was not the case, and as much as we want to see change, I would be stunned if it were to happen before Black Monday (the day after the season's end, where coaches typically get fired).
Nagy is gasping for air while Pace is cowardly hiding from the press and not speaking to anyone. The defense has also faltered and is in current jeopardy, as they allowed the Lions to put up 34 points and 460 total yards. All without their top weapon, Wide Receiver Kenny Golladay, and rising rookie Running Back D'Andre Swift.
When The Team Loses, It Is Important To Think About The Long-Term
The team's current state is horrible, to say the least, and is only getting worse as each day goes by. Somehow, the Bears are one game away from the third Wild card playoff spot. Am I looking for them to make the playoffs? No. Do I feel like they can make the playoffs? With the way things are heading? No chance. So at this point, it will be a blessing in disguise if the Bears lose.
Do not get me wrong, I will never root for the Bears to lose a game, but fans must understand the position we are currently in. No matter what, we will be a QB-needy team heading into the offseason. After the Bears 5-1 start, the Bears are hovering around the early teens for their spot in the NFL Draft order. As most fans know, this upcoming draft class seems to have various highly sought QB prospects, headlined by Clemson's Trevor Lawrance, who is unquestionably expected to go #1 overall. With the way the team is currently placed, there is a great chance the Bears could miss out on those top-tier QB prospects and be stuck looking for other options.
If they are unable to land a QB in the first round, the bright spot is that higher-ranked players at other positions (such as spots on the Offensive Line) will fall and be available to us thanks to other teams snagging those QB's before us. For a team that should have numerous needs, the higher the draft pick, the better, no matter how they appear to attack it.
Three Words: Get. Kmet. Going.
After the Bears' bye week, my hopes for the team have dwindled, but there were still things I hoped to see from them as the season progressed. First and foremost, I wanted to see our top draft pick, Tight End Cole Kmet, get rolling. Not only is it simple logic that we need to see our top draft pick play more and (hopefully) contribute, but we need a bright spot heading into the offseason.
Fortunately for him, Kmet has out-snapped original starting Tight End Jimmy Graham in recent weeks, as the overpaid Graham seems almost non-exist when the team plays now. Kmet dropped a near touchdown against the Packers but delivered his second career touchdown catch against the Lions and finished with five receptions for 37 yards.
Cole Kmet, Scoring His First Career Touchdown At Soldier Field Against The Lions
(Credit: Windy City Gridiron)
Other than David Montgomery fighting for any bit of space among an awful offensive line, the Bears seemingly have little-to-no offensive bright spots heading into the off-season. Wide Receiver Allen Robinson may be the only legit weapon we have, but he is clearly disgruntled with the team, and the sad reality is that it is hard-pressed to believe he is here in 2021, as his contract will expire at season's end. Fellow Wide Receiver and 2020 draft pick Darnell Mooney can be considered a bright spot, as he has shown flashes throughout the year. But he has not done enough and not been given enough opportunities to genuinely merit a spot anything more extensive than our #2 starting receiver spot.
With Kmet, he is looking to become the unquestioned top Tight End on the team for the foreseeable future, something we have not had since the days of Greg Olsen. Rookie Tight Ends typically take time to develop, as it is rare to see them blossom quickly into impact starters right off the bat. Now, deep into the season, it is time to accelerate the process and his overall development. If (assumingly) we can have a new regime come in, look at Kmet and see that he is someone that they can feel confident in implementing and building their future offense around him, that would be a rare glimpse of hope for the team; Cause lord knows we will need any bit we can get.
My Preseason Prediction For This Game: Bears Win
My Pick Now: Texans Win
Final Score: Texans 31 - Bears 23
Each year, I have a gut feeling of how I anticipate things will go for the upcoming season. One of those gut feelings is the potential upset wins and losses for us throughout the year. Heading into 2020, there were two upset wins that I felt confident about: against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Houston Texans. Thankfully, I was correct about the Bucs' and boy was that an excellent win. With the way things were going for both the Bears and Texans at the time, I became even more confident about a potential victory over the Texans later in the season.
Well, we were in a great place in early October, but now it is December, and all hell has broken loose for us. As confident as I felt about winning this game against the Texans, I now have very little confidence, let alone trust, in picking the Bears this week.
I do expect the Bears to have their way with the Texans' defense, specifically David Montgomery finding some success throughout the game. But the central question is how long can that last? How long will they able to have their way with their defense? Will it last ¾'s of the game like last week and then they falter at the end? More importantly, can the defense rebound from back-to-back frustrating performances? The offense has always been the most significant reason as to why we lost games this year, but the defense has arguably been the leading cause of our losses the past two weeks.
The defense seems too talented to stink this much again, but it is fair to wonder how motivated they are at the moment. They have been carrying the team all year long, and the team's offense has not helped them a single bit before. As I mentioned, Deshaun Watson will be hungry this week and aim to strike his revenge against Ryan Pace and his team.
As much as I wish for this not to happen, I expect Watson to pierce through the broken defense and our offense not to do enough to get on the Texans' level. The pain keeps on growing.
If you read through this whole article, pat yourself on the back because you are a gem. While you are at it, please feel free to let me know what you think and tap the heart icon at the bottom, if you wish.
Thank You and Bear Down!
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