Texans 23, Bears 14 – Recap

Box Score

Grading Primer (I wrote this about Michigan, but the grading procedures are still relevant.)

The Bears got off to an encouraging start, striking first and then taking a 14-10 lead into the half, but the second half was all Texans. Serious pressure by Houston’s defense and a few Bears errors led to a 13-0 second half for the Texans. Even with the loss, the Bears still showed some nice things during the game. Houston was a playoff team last year and look better than they did a year ago. I wouldn’t worry about the Bears as this point.

Player Grades

How’d they do?

Ratings are out of 100 and should be read similar to Madden ratings. Overall ratings for the season are in parentheses. Obviously, they are the same this week. Going forward, the change from the previous week’s overall rating will also be in those parentheses.

QB: 89 (Season: 89)

Cutler graded out very well. QB is one of the positions that lends itself well to high scores in grading, but the lack of minuses was what was particularly encouraging. Cutler made a couple mistakes, but they weren’t killers or anything close to killers, the pick wasn’t his fault, he reacted to the pressure he faced pretty well, and generally made good decisions with the football.

RB: 80 (Season: 80)

I liked what I saw from Jeremy Langford. Houston’s got a very good defense and their line in particular is very imposing. I’m not thrilled about what I saw from the ground game in this one, but considering the competition, I’m not worried about it, either. Langford got just about all the work at RB. Ka’Deem Carey got in briefly and we didn’t see Jordan Howard at all. That was a bit surprising.

FB: 73 (Season: 73)

Lasike saw a good number of snaps and was just okay.

WR: 85 (Season: 85)

Alshon Jeffery had a very good day, including a couple deep balls. He did have a really bad drop, though. Kevin White was okay in his debut. He caught a -2 on the interception. You can’t just stop a route like that and we saw why. I’m still very encouraged by his potential, though. Eddie Royal had a solid outing.

TE: 78 (Season: 78)

Zach Miller wasn’t called upon a ton. Logan Paulsen was an okay blocker.

OL: 80 (Season: 80)

Ignore Leno’s grade entirely. He had a few big biffs that led to a bunch of minuses and didn’t really get a chance to make up those points a) because the Bears ran right more than left and b) because pass pro doesn’t show up well in grading. In pass pro, he was solid-to-good, save for a couple of those biffs. The other tackle, Bobby Massie, was less good in pass pro. Massie has always been a better run blocker than pass blocker. We knew going into this that he was prone to the occasional biff in pass pro. Houston has multiple excellent pass rushers and Massie struggled. I hoped he’d be a little better, but he wasn’t so bad that I would worry about him being a problem against a whole lot of teams. Most of the time, he should be fine. His run blocking was solid.

Josh Sitton had a very nice outing in his Bears debut, the somewhat low score being a result of the Bears running right more than left. That makes sense considering they’ve got not only Kyle Long but the aforementioned Massie over there. It certainly did not appear that Sitton was cut by the Packers for any reason other than that the two sides were unable to come together on a new contract. Not to worry, Ted Thompson didn’t know something Ryan Pace didn’t. Pace +2.

Kyle Long was the Bears best offensive lineman in his return to right guard. Cody Whitehair messed up a snap and had a couple other mistakes besides. His debut was encouraging overall, though, considering he’s a rookie and just changed positions a week before the game. He looks like he’ll be quite good in time.

DL: 84 (Season: 84)

Akiem Hicks and Eddie Goldman had very nice games. Mitch Unrein seemed to get the most snaps outside of those two – he was just okay. Jonathan Bullard showed promise in his NFL debut, though it may be a little bit before he’s ready to be a major contributor.

OLB: 88 (Season: 88)

Leonard Floyd had a nice showing in his NFL debut. Lamarr Houston and Willie Young had nice outings as well. Once Pernell McPhee comes back, this group could really be dangerous.

ILB: 94 (Season: 94)

Ryan Pace did a great job in the off-season turning what was a pretty big weakness a year ago into a strength. Pace +2. Trevathan and Freeman both had very good games.

CB: 84 (Season: 84)

Tracy Porter got beat a couple times, but overall did a nice job covering one of the NFL’s best receivers in DeAndre Hopkins. Deiondre’ Hall had a nice debut. I liked what I saw from him in the pre-season and his play in this game is really making me think he could be a nice player. Jacoby Glenn had a couple nice plays. Kyle Fuller was out for this one, so when the Bears get him back, the group could end up being pretty decent.

S: 76 (Season: 76)

Neither starter did a whole lot. Given the nature of the position, though, that’s not to say they were necessarily bad or anything. Take this rating as more of an “incomplete.”

Helmet Stickers

“The NFL doesn’t have helmet stickers.”

Okay then,

Yet To Be Named Gimmicky Award Meant To Show Who The Best Overall Performers Were

If you have an idea of what I should call this, let me know. Twitter handle and e-mail address are at the end of the blog.

Anyway, up to 3 may be awarded per player. Not necessarily the highest-graded players since different grades mean different things to different players (refer to the primer).

Offense

3: Jay Cutler

2: Kyle Long, Alshon Jeffery

1: Jeremy Langford, Josh Sitton

Defense

3: Jerrell Freeman, Danny Trevathan

2: Akiem Hicks, Eddie Goldman

1: Willie Young, Leonard Floyd, Lamarr Houston, Tracy Porter, Deiondre’ Hall

Yet To Be Named Gimmicky Award Meant To Show Who The Best Overall Performers Were Count

Bear Down!

Twitter: @KSchroeder_312

E-mail: schroeder.giig@gmail.com

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