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Week 17 Game Recap: Chicago Bears 24, Houston Texans 31
What you need to know
| Chicago Bears |
The Bears scored ten points in the first quarter but surrendered 21 consecutive points, and could not muster enough offense to keep pace with the Texans, and ultimately lost the game after pulling to within a touchdown late in the fourth quarter when an onside kick was recovered by Houston. The Texans enjoyed an advantage of just over 15 minutes in time of possession, and as such Matt Forte did not have as many rushing attempts as he normally does. Forte ran well on most of his carries, gaining four or more yards on seven of his 13 rushing attempts. However, Forte only had two rushing attempts in the second half.
Kyle Orton played well early on, displaying an accurate arm on short passes and moving his team efficiently early. However when they fell behind and he had to execute deeper routes, his accuracy fell off. Orton did not attempt any passes of over 15 yards in the first half, and threw seven such passes in the second half. He missed open receivers four times on deep throws, and was victimized by a drop of another deep throw. While he targeted Brandon Lloyd the most in the first half with five short passes including one for a touchdown, Orton looked more for Devin Hester and Greg Olsen in the second half. He targeted Hester five times in the second half, including three times deep, one of which Hester caught inches outside the end zone. Orton threw a touchdown pass to Olsen on the next play, which was one of seven second half passes thrown to Olsen, and the second pass thrown to him in the end zone. That second end zone target was deflected by Olsen's defender.
The Bears attempted eight plays on three possessions in the red zone, and scored touchdowns on all three possessions. Chicago ran the ball three times, once by Forte and two pushes up the middle by Orton on plays of less than a yard, including one for a touchdown. Five of Orton's red zone passes went for touchdowns, and another one to Adrian Peterson ended inches outside of the end zone.
| Houston Texans |
The Texans overcame a ten point deficit and used a balanced attack to keep Chicago's defense on the field for most of the game, while scoring 31 points. Matt Schaub threw the ball 37 times and Houston's running backs carried the ball a combined 32 times. Steve Slaton had 20 of those carries, and despite a slow start where he lost a fumble that led to a Bears field goal, finished the game strong. Slaton ran with great determination between the tackles when asked to do so, and displayed great burst at times breaking tackles and gaining yards after initial contact. Slaton's presence was felt most on the Texans' fourth quarter drive that consumed over six minutes, and Slaton contributing 69 yards on nine carries. That drive culminated with Houston taking a 31-17 lead. Both Slaton and his backup Ryan Moats scored rushing touchdowns with Slaton having to work extra hard for his. He scored a touchdown on an 11 yard run that was called back due to a penalty, but managed to score from two yards out later in the same drive.
Matt Schaub overcame a slow start in the first quarter to play very well. Schaub displayed pinpoint accuracy on most of his passes, the majority of which were thrown either short or intermediate in distance but in a place where his receivers were able to catch in stride and gain yards after the catch. Schaub targeted Andre Johnson 12 times, and on a wide variety of routes, with Johnson catching ten of them, two for touchdowns. The two players were in sync no matter the route, and Chicago's defenders could not slow them down. Schaub was very accurate on all of his deep passes, connecting on all four of those passes to four different receivers. He directed the offense well, and although under duress from the Bears' pass rush early on, did not get rattled and led his team to the victory. Apart from Johnson, Schaub distributed the ball around to his other players fairly evenly, with Slaton and Daniels being next in terms of targets with six and four respectively.
The Texans ran 23 plays on four red zone possessions and scored three touchdowns and one field goal. Slaton had nine of the red zone carries, including a carry where he was ruled to have fumbled with the ball recovered by Chicago, but retained possession as review showed the ground caused the fumble. Slaton scored his touchdown later on the same drive. Moats had five red zone carries, including a touchdown run. Schaub threw two red zone passes apiece to Andre Johnson, Moats and David Anderson, with Johnson catching one for a touchdown.
What you ought to know
| QB Kyle Orton, Pass: 22 - 37 - 244 - 2 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 2 - 2 - 1 |
Orton played reasonably well, but appeared much more comfortable throwing shorter passes than longer ones. When the game was close, he threw shorter passes almost exclusively. Eleven of the intermediate and deep passes he threw were in the second half. He only connected on one deep pass, and that was in large part to a good catch by Hester in double coverage. Orton made good decisions on his shorter passes, and proved accurate on those throws. Orton looked for Devin Hester the most, targeting him nine times, with half of those targets being of the intermediate or deep variety. He looked to Greg Olsen a lot in the second half, targeting him seven times in the half, including two in the end zone, of which one was caught for a touchdown.
| RB Matt Forte, Rush: 13 - 50 - 0, Rec: 3 - 25 - 0 (4 targets) |
Forte played well in the chances he had, running with determination and grinding out yards against a defense that was focused on him. However, he played sparingly in the second half, and just had two carries and no targets in the second half. He did not appear to be injured, and came in the game late in the fourth quarter for a red zone play, but was not featured nearly as much in the second half.
| RB Adrian Peterson, Rush: 3 - 17 - 0, Rec: 2 - 28 - 0 (2 targets) |
Peterson had a few touches, most of which were in the second half. He did take a short pass to within inches of the end zone before being brought down.
| WR Devin Hester, Rec: 6 - 85 - 0 (8 targets) |
Hester ran his routes well, and got open on most of the times he was targeted. He showed excellent quickness and used that to get open on several plays designed to hit him in stride and use his ability to gain yards after the catch. Hester also ran his deep routes well, using that skill in addition to his speed to get open deep a few times. He did drop a deep pass that glanced off his fingertips.
| WR Brandon Lloyd, Rec: 4 - 34 - 1 (8 targets) |
Lloyd was targeted on short routes in the first half, and ran them well, getting open and securing the passes, including one for a touchdown. His three second half targets were on deeper routes, and none of those passes were within his grasp.
| WR Rashied Davis, Rec: 2 - 35 - 0 (2 targets) |
Davis turned both of his second half targets late in the game into first downs.
| WR Marty Booker (2 targets) |
Booker was unable to get away from his defenders on the two passes thrown his way.
| TE Greg Olsen, Rec: 4 - 30 - 1 (8 targets) |
Olsen was targeted seven times in the second half, and may have had better numbers as he was missed twice while open and had a pass in the end zone deflected due to a good play by a Bears defender.
| TE Desmond Clark, Rec: 1 - 7 - 0 (2 targets) |
Clark's only target came in the second half.
| PK Robbie Gould 1 - 1 FG, 3 - 3 XP, 6 points |
Gould made all three of his point after attempts and his only field goal attempt, which was from 37 yards.
| CHI Rush Defense |
Chicago's run defense played well most of the game, but gave up big plays. While they stopped Houston's running backs eight times at or behind the line of scrimmage on 32 combined rushing attempts, they allowed a 47 yard run late in the game and two rushing touchdowns.
| CHI Pass Defense |
The Bears had no answer for the Texans' quick hitting passing attack. Andre Johnson had his way with their secondary, getting open on a variety of routes and catching ten of the 12 targets thrown to him. Chicago generated pressure on Schaub sporadically, but did not sack him despite defending 37 passes.
| QB Matt Schaub, Pass: 27 - 36 - 328 - 2 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 4 - -3 - 0 |
Schaub played with poise and confidence, and was very accurate when given a little time. He executed an offense that called for him to make a quick decision and pass the ball very well. Schaub and Johnson were in sync throughout the game, and Johnson received the lion's share of Schaub's passes and the two converted on all but two of them. Schaub not only was excellent in the short passing game, but also connected on all eight of his intermediate and deep passes, showing good touch and enough arm strength to get the ball to his receivers.
| RB Steve Slaton, Rush: 20 - 92 - 1, Rec: 5 - 36 - 0 (6 targets) |
Slaton showed his explosiveness on a play where he burst up the middle and ran for 47 yards, and on other plays where he turned short passes into gains that resulted in first downs. He played with good leverage, and constantly fought for extra yards, although one of those attempts resulted in him losing a fumble. Thankfully for his team he was ruled down before losing the ball. His head coach showed continued confidence in him by calling Slaton's number on five of the subsequent plays, with the fifth one resulting in a touchdown.
| RB Ryan Moats, Rush: 12 - 38 - 1, Rec: 3 - 14 - 0 (3 targets) |
Moats complemented Slaton well, and although he did not gain a lot of yards, helped his team maintain the time of possession with some tough interior running. He also scored his first touchdown of the season.
| RB Vonta Leach, Rec: 1 - 3 - 0 (1 targets) |
Leach caught the first pass of the game and concentrated on blocking thereafter.
| WR Andre Johnson, Rec: 10 - 148 - 2 (12 targets) |
Johnson was outstanding. He showed excellent route running ability on a wide variety of routes, and used that and his combination of size, strength, speed and hands to catch all but two of the passes thrown his way. He easily got open against single coverage and overpowered double teams at other times. Johnson's two touchdowns were as a result of him getting open deep on one play, and using strength to wrest the ball away from his defender on a fade route in the end zone.
| WR Andre Davis, Rec: 3 - 58 - 0 (3 targets) |
Davis caught each pass thrown his way, and showed his deep play ability by getting open deep and catching a pass. He was tackled before he could turn that play into an even longer, scoring play.
| WR David Anderson, Rec: 1 - 9 - 0 (2 targets) |
Anderson's impact was minimal in the passing game
| WR Kevin Walter, Rec: 1 - 23 - 0 (2 targets) |
Walter was not targeted until the second half. He ran well after his only reception to pick up an important first down later in the game.
| TE Owen Daniels, Rec: 3 - 37 - 0 (5 targets) |
Daniels was utilized mostly on short routes, but gained most of his yards on a deep pass thrown to him. Four of his targets were in the second half.
| PK Kris Brown 1 - 1 FG, 4 - 4 XP, 7 points |
Brown made both of his point after attempts, and made hiss only field goal attempt, which was from 22 yards. He also made a big play by recovering a fumble by a Bears kick returner. The ensuing drive gave Houston a 14-10 lead.
| HOU Rush Defense |
Houston's run defense was not tested in the second half. During the first half they held Forte to just under 4.0 yards per rushing attempt. While they did not allow any long runs, they did allow a short yardage push up the middle by Orton for a touchdown.
| HOU Pass Defense |
The Texans did not generate a consistent pass rush, in large part due to Orton relying on a short passing attack early. However, when Orton was forced to rely more on the pass, and less on the running game, Houston was able to disrupt his timing during the second half. They sacked Orton twice and the pass rush forced him to rush some of his throws that resulted in several incompletions.