Bears' Porter looking good, but not good enough

HOUSTON - Nine-year veteran cornerback Tracy Porter got the Chicago Bears off to a great start, but his big play against one of the NFL's best receivers couldn't prevent Sunday's season-opening loss to the Texans.

With the home team driving and about to enter the red zone, Porter intercepted a Brock Osweiler pass intended for DeAndre Hopkins at the Bears' 22-yard line and returned it 3 yards. The Bears promptly drove 75 yards for a 7-0 lead.

"That was a momentum setter for us," said Porter, who matched his interception total from last season, when the Bears had a franchise-record-low 8 picks, including just 4 by defensive backs.

"They were driving the ball down the field. I was playing press coverage, and I just read his hips, and once he looked back for the ball, I was in great position and I was able to take the ball away from him.

"I had to be in great position, and I was."

In the second quarter, Hopkins snagged a 23-yard TD pass from Osweiler despite tight coverage by Porter. But Hopkins, who had 111 catches last season for 1,521 yards, finished with just 5 catches for 54 yards.

Partly as a result of the attention the Bears paid Hopkins, rookie first-round pick Will Fuller caught 5 passes for 107 yards. That included an 18-yard, weaving touchdown run on a screen pass that put Houston up 20-14 early in the fourth quarter.

It was a well-executed play by the Texans and it illustrated the speed and agility that made Fuller a first-round pick.

"You have to play your lanes," Porter said about defending the screen. "But if you have blockers in the way it's kind of difficult to play your lanes. You step out of your lanes, and that's when he makes you pay for it."

Making some plays:

Alshon Jeffery piled up 105 yards on 4 catches in the first half, including a 54-yard jump ball that he easily took away from Texans cornerback Andre Hal with time running out in the first half.

That set up Jay Cutler's 19-yard TD pass to Eddie Royal seven seconds before the break.

But Jeffery was shut out in the second half, when the Bears managed just 71 yards after getting 187 in the first half.

"I don't know what it was," Royal said of the second-half slowdown. "We tried to come out (in the second half) with intensity, and we wanted to get points on that first drive. It just didn't happen. Give them a lot of credit. That's a good defense over there."

Royal helped the fast start with a 31-yard pickup on his first punt return, and his TD catch gave the Bears a 14-10 halftime lead.

He finished with 4 catches for 57 yards, a 14.3-yard average, a significant improvement on a disappointing and injury-riddled 2015, when he averaged just 6.4 yards on 37 catches.

Feeling the pain:

After 5 sacks and several other plays on which he was hammered just after getting rid of the ball, quarterback Jay Cutler was feeling it.

"I don't feel great," Cutler said with a wry smile. "I didn't get hit a ton in preseason, so the last time I've been hit like that was last year.

"Usually you want to build up to these, and then, by Week 4 or 5 when you've gotten used to it, you can take a few shots. I'll bounce back pretty quickly, though."

Numbers game:

The most telling statistical advantage the Texans enjoyed was in third-down efficiency and the resulting time of possession.

While Houston converted a whopping 60 percent of its third downs (12 of 20), the Bears succeeded on just 4 of 13 opportunities for 31 percent. That accounted for the Texans' 36:19-23:41 advantage in time of possession.

"Third down was critical," coach John Fox said. "Time of possession was pretty lopsided. The really big difference in the game is they were able to convert a higher percentage of third downs than we were."

Sitting it out:

Bears inactive were cornerbacks Kyle Fuller (knee) and Cre'Von LeBlanc, safety Deon Bush (groin), linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski, center Eric Kush, wide receiver Cam Meredith and defensive lineman Will Sutton.

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