Texans 13, Bears 6
The better defense wins: Texans destroy Jay Cutler, render Bears impotent in adominating showing
CHICAGO — Mirror mirror, who's the most dominating defense in the land?
On a Sunday night showcase when many thought the Houston Texans and the Chicago Bears were staring across the field at mirror image defenses of each other, the Texans' unit left little doubt who is more dominant.
Texans 13, Bears 6. That's a defensive beauty.
"We always knew who the best defensive in the league was," safety Glover Quin said. "But we needed to show everyone else."
How's this for a Show Me?
Wade Phillips' Bulls On Parade defense forced four turnovers, knocked Jay Cutler out of the game with a concussion, effectively squashed every chance the Bears had to work a pumped, primetime crowd into a true frenzy.
On a night when the Texans managed only 216 yards of offense, a night when quarterback Matt Schaub looked as accurate as a Republican pollster, the defense never let the game get away. It brought back memories of the all-guts-out, stifling defensive play in that playoff loss to Baltimore.
"It was a respect thing," safety and Saturday night team speaker Danieal Manning said. "Everyone was talking about the Bears defense. We can play a little defense too."
On a night when the Texans managed only 219 yards of offense, a night when Schaub looked as accurate as a Republican pollster, the defense never let the game go.
These Bulls were ticked — and they took it out on one of the NFC's best teams.
Houston (8-1) is now tied with first-time loser Atlanta for the best record in the entire NFL, two games clear of the 7-2 Baltimore Ravens (thanks to their tiebreaker advantage head-to-head romp), the New England Patriots (6-3), the Peyton Manning Denver Broncos (6-3) and those surprise Andrew Luck Indianapolis Colts (6-3) for homefield advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.
Rolled Over
The Bears defense came into the game as the turnover-creating monsters. But the Bulls On Parade flipped the script, forcing three turnovers in the first quarter.
Manning turned into a one-man wrecking crew against his former team, creating two of the turnovers with jarring hits. The first came on Chicago's first offensive play of the game with Manning smacking tight end Kellen Davis, sending the ball flying for a Tim Dobbins recovery.
Then, with the Bears driving at the end of the first quarter, Manning picked off a Cutler pass at the 6-yard line. Glover Quin — just call him GQ —also turned a successful Bears' fourth-and-1 conversion into a Chicago nightmare when he knocked the ball out of Michael Bush's hands with another big hit.
With Schaub throwing two interceptions of his own, the game became mired in a 3-3 tie though — with the offensive play more raged than the rainy weather. A bit of receiving brilliance from Arian Foster gave the Texans a 10-3 lead, capping a drive that included back-to-back 21 and 25 yard runs from Foster and his backup Justin Forsett respectively.
The Texans struggled to score in the second half though and with 12 minutes remaining, they found themselves clinging to a 10-6 lead.
A drop by Garrett Graham — starting at tight end with Owen Daniels out with a hip injury — on third-and-7 didn't help Gary Kubiak's soggy concern. A 42-yard field goal from Shayne Graham made it 13-6, but the Texans' defense would still spend the entire game knowing it had almost no margin for error.
On third-and-12 from the Texans' 30-yard line with 2:47 left, Kubiak called a safe Foster run.
He'd put the game back in the Bulls' hands. Good decision — with this defense.
The Bears last chance ended with a Jason Campbell pass into double coverage on fourth-and-8.
