Bears, Cutler KO'ed By Texans
By Benjy Lipsman in News on Nov 12, 2012 4:40PM
With two top defensive teams playing in the cold, wind, and rain of Soldier Field, we expected a low scoring game between the Bears and Houston Texans in a battle of 7-1 teams. The Bears' offense—typically slow out of the gate—couldn't be bailed out by the defense and special teams this time. On Sunday night the Texans forced the Bears into turnovers, knocked Jay Cutler out of the game, and beat the Bears 13-6.
On the game's opening kick-off, it looked like the Bears magic was continuing as a loose ball recovered by the Bears was called a fumble on the field. The call was overturned in review, however, and it was the Bears who ended up coughing up the ball twice in the game' opening quarter. On the Bears' first play from scrimmage, Cutler connected on a pass to Kellen Davis, who had the ball stripped by former Bear Danieal Manning. Led by Arian Foster's running, the Texans drove down the field before the Bears stopped them short of the end zone and Houston settled for a field goal. On the Bears' next possession, Michael Bush fumbled following a big gain for an apparent first down, starting a game of Hot Potato between the two teams. Tim Jennings picked off a Matt Schaub pass near midfield a couple plays later, only to have the Bears ensuing drive cut short when Cutler's pass targeting Kellen Davis was intercepted by Manning, who apparently remembered a thing or two about playing the Bears offense. Jennings snatched the ball right back from the Texans, recording his second INT of the game. That pick set up the Bears' first field goal, a 51-yarder from Robbie Gould, and broke a streak of four straight possessions that ended in turnovers.
Near the end of the second quarter, Cutler took a vicious hit on what looked to be a big play for the Bears. But Cutler was over the line of scrimmage when he threw his 40-yard bomb to Devin Hester, negating the play. While Cutler finished out the half, a halftime exam confirmed a concussion, and Jason Campbell replaced Cutler in the second half.
The Bears added another field goal, this one from 24 yards out, in the middle of the third quarter. After Campbell connected with Brandon Marshall on a 45-yard bomb to Houston's 10 yard line, the Bears couldn't find the end zone despite having first-and-goal. While a touchdown would have tied the game, the Bears remained behind by a 10-6 margin. Houston added a fourth quarter field goal that kept the game a one-possession affair, but Campbell couldn't muster the fourth quarter performance that we've seen from Cutler this year. They were unable to move the ball at all in their final two possessions.
Before leaving the game at halftime, Cutler completed just 7 of 14 passes for 40 yards, and was picked off twice for an ugly 16.7 QB rating. Campbell's second half earned him a 70.9 rating as he threw for 94 yards on 11 of 19 passing and no interceptions. Brandon Marshall was both quarterbacks' primary target, catching eight passes for 107 yards while no other Bears receiver even broke double digits in yards gained. Houston held Matt Forte to just 39 yards on 16 carries, while Michael Bush gained 34 yards on just three carries.
The defense did an effective enough job shutting down the Texans offense, which was second in the league in scoring entering the night. Tim Jennings added two more INTs to his total, which is now a league-leading eight. While Arian Foster gained 102 yards on 29 carries, Matt Schaub threw for just 95. But the Bears defense apparently needed to score in addition to shutting down the opposition, and for the first time in a month they weren't able to do so.
Despite dropping to 7-2, the Bears remained atop the NFC North and . Atlanta remains one game up in the conference standings after the Falcons suffered their first loss. The San Francisco 49ers tied with St. Louis, moving to 6-2-1. The Bears and 49ers face off next Monday night to see who has the inside track on a first round bye. But both teams might be without their starting QBs. Alex Smith, like Jay Cutler, also left yesterday's game with a concussion. We'd like to hope that Cutler can bounce back, but the fact Cutler cancelled his Monday morning radio show and Bears' plans to re-sign Josh McCown suggest he might be able to shake this one off so quickly.