How was it that close?

The Bears hung around in a messy game in Houston, but never really threatened to win it.

How was it that close?

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The Bears fought hard down in Houston last night, taking on a playoff team in a hostile environment and despite a complete lack of a running game and an inability to pick up a single Texan blitzer, they came through when it counted.

Oh, sure, they lost 19-13, but Cairo Santos’ field goal with 2:51 left in the game provided the points needed for them to cover the 6.5 point spread and make me some money. Now you know why I love that little guy so much.

Apparently NFL games are decided by the actual score and not the Vegas line, so it was disappointing for the Bears to waste such a good defensive effort. The Texans have a legitimately good offense and could manage just a single touchdown in the entire game. They spent the rest of their time daring their apostrophe’d kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn to try and longer and longer field goals, and he kept making them.

Neither the Texans (75 rushing yards) or the Bears (71) could run the ball for shit. And I thought it was kind of mean that the Texans saw that when they didn’t blitz that Caleb Williams could pick them apart, that they decided to blitz him relentlessly. Seems unsporting.

To his credit, Caleb hung in there and took some big shots and kept coming back to take even more of them.

Like last week, the Bears defense was particularly stout in the second half. They allowed just three points, and forced a crucial turnover inside their own five yard line to thwart what would have been a game icing touchdown.

There is, of course a lot for the Bears to improve on. Here are a few in no real order.