3 Biggest Takeaways From Bears’ Week 2 Loss to the Texans

Caleb Williams's first primetime game didn't end how he and the Bears hoped. The Houston Texans defeated the Chicago Bears 19-13 on Sunday night. Although the Bears were able to keep the game fairly close throughout, it was clear the Texans were a step above the Bears.

This showed especially in quarterback play, with C.J. Stroud consistently evading the Bears' pass rush and making amazing throws. When Stroud wasn't pressured, he stayed on time and picked apart the Bears defense. Stroud finished the day 23/26 with 260 passing yards and a touchdown.

For Williams it was a tale of two halves. He played well in the first half, completing 12 of 15 passes for 91 yards and only got sacked twice. In the second half, he completed 11 of 22 passes for 83, threw two interceptions, and got sacked five times.

Luckily, the Bears' defense kept them in the game in the second half by consistently stopping the Texans; offense. Ultimately, the defense's performance didn't result in a win like it did last week. With that in mind, here are three takeaways from the Bears' loss to the Texans.

1. The Offense Can't Run the Ball

Entering this week, the Bears needed to establish a ground game. Last week, they only rushed for 84 yards on 22 carries. The failure to run the ball against the Titans was chalked up to facing what looks to be a great Titans interior defensive line in Jefferey Simmons and T'Vondre Sweat.

In contrast, the Texans' strength is in their edge rushers and not their interior defensive line. Despite that, the Texans' defensive line dominated the Bears' offensive line on the ground.

In the first half, the Bears ran 11 times and only gained 16 yards. That averages to 1.6 yards a carry, which is absolutely horrible. D'Andre Swift ended the first half with seven carries for two yards, Williams had two rushes for three yards, and Khalil Herbert had two rushes for two yards and a touchdown. The Bears' offensive line couldn't get a push on the inside or outside in the first half.

The Bears had more success in the seocnd half, running the ball 11 times for 55 yards. Swift added another seven carries for 26 yards while Williams scrambled another three times to gain 41 yards, and Travis Homer had one rush for six yards.

While the second-half rushing stats were better thanks to Williams's scrambles, the overall rushing success is unacceptable. The Bears brought Swift in to be a dynamic runner out of the backfield like he was in Philadelphia. Even though it's only been to games, he hasn't shown that yet.

The offensive line certainly needs to play better, but Swift needs to use his speed and shiftiness to make defenders miss so he can make big plays.