At least the Bears had a good first half
Jay Cutler's 54-yard deep ball to Alshon Jeffery was the Chicago Bears' long play of the game Sunday at Houston, and it set up the touchdown that gave the Bears a 14-10 lead with seven seconds left in the first half.
According to Cutler, it was a one-man show.
"I didn't do anything there," the quarterback said. "I just pumped one high and far, and Al did the rest. We like the matchup (1-on-1 with cornerback Andre Hal)."
Jeffery had 4 catches for 105 yards in the first half but nothing in the second half. He dropped a short slant late in the third quarter that would have given the Bears a first down when they were backed up and clinging to a 14-13 lead.
"In the second half they did a better job taking him away, rolling some coverages over to him," Cutler said. "And the (Texans') front four and front five were getting home (on the pass rush)."
The Texans got 4 of their 5 sacks in the second half, when they used some stunts to take advantage of a Bears offensive line in flux. Pro Bowl guard Josh Sitton wasn't signed until seven days before the opener, and the next day rookie Cody Whitehair was moved to center to make room for Sitton.
"Those struggles occurred a little bit more in the second half," coach John Fox said. "Especially when you get into backyard football, where you've got to throw it to catch up. (The Texans) are a talented front. Whenever you get one-dimensional it's problematic for most everybody."
Cutler completed 10 of 13 first-half passes for 156 yards, 1 TD, no picks and a 141.8 passer rating. He was 6-for-16 for 60 yards in the second half with an interception, a passer rating of 22.9.
Committee of one:
The expected running back by committee never materialized in Sunday's loss to the Texans, as Jeremy Langford took 17 of the 18 handoffs from Jay Cutler.
Langford had a 1-yard touchdown run to open the scoring but finished with a modest 57 yards, averaging 3.4 yards per carry. Backup Ka'Deem Carey got 1 carry for 4 yards. Langford also caught 2 passes for 6 yards.
"It wasn't that kind of game," coach John Fox said when asked about the distribution of touches. "It wasn't one of those where we ran it 35 times. We didn't need to spell (Langford) a whole lot."
Expectations are that Carey and rookie Jordan Howard will contribute more in the future, but Langford will have an opportunity to be the main man if he produces.
Merciless pass rush:
Former Illinois all-American Whitney Mercilus had 2 of the Texans' 5 sacks. He had 12 last season, tied for fifth in the AFC.
"Going into our third year here, he's a guy that has really improved every single year," Texans coach Bill O'Brien said. "He's coached really well by (linebackers coach) Mike Vrabel. Mike drives him very hard, and I think he really likes that."
The 2012 first-round pick (26th overall) had a combined 18 sacks in his first three seasons before last year's breakout.
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