The great and the bad in the Chicago Bears victory over the Texans

The Chicago Bears picked up their second victory of this season on a game-winning field goal by Cairo Santos.

The kick spoiled a chance for former Bears head coach Lovie Smith to finally get a win over his former team. Instead, the Houston Texans remain winless while the Chicago Bears are 2-1 on the season.

The Bears should feel fortunate to be above .500. The passing game struggled mightily for the second consecutive game. The Chicago Bears gained just 82 yards through the air and averaged 3.7 yards per pass play.

Quarterback Justin Fields once again did not play well. We will discuss him in more detail in a little bit.

The Texans gashed the Chicago Bears’ run defense in the first half. The defense settled down in the second half and yielded just 92 yards on the ground. The Bears were able to get off the field on third down and had two turnovers.

The Chicago Bears picked up the victory thanks to two great performances but nearly lost because of one bad performance. The Bears also got an unexpectedly good performance that also helped key the team to victory

Khalil Herbert was great running the ball.

Herbert rushed for 157 yards on 20 carries. He scored a pair of touchdowns and averaged 7.9 yards a carry. His outstanding performance was needed especially with Fields struggling (again, we will get to him later).

His strong day was also needed after starting running back David Montgomery left the game with an injury with 8:40 left in the first quarter.

Herbert busted a 52-yard gain with 11:25 in the third quarter that was part of a drive that led to his second touchdown of the game.

The offensive line has struggled in pass protection but they have been outstanding run blocking. Herbert took advantage of the holes his line provided. The Chicago Bears needed every single yard he gained to win.