Chicago Bears - Houston Texans live online: stats, scores and highlights
Sad history of CHI QBs
It has been a long, sad story of quarterback play in the Windy City. Do they finally have the answer to their QB problems with the No. 1 overall pick? That seems to be the early consensus, even before Williams took a single snap in Chicago. If he were to establish himself as the starting gunslinger for the foreseeable future it would end a quarterback carousel that has lasted since the start of this franchise. Jay Cutler was the longest tenured starter, with sevens seasons under center for Chicago, but that never really amounted to anything. The next longest tenured QB was Ed Brown who was under center for six years in the Windy City in the 50s. Since Cutler left Chicago in 2017, there have been 10 different starters for the Bears including Caleb Williams.
No. 1 overall QBs to win in Week 1
It’s not an easy task to come into to the NFL as No. 1 overall pick and win in your debut as a rookie QB. Caleb Williams may have struggled but he joins an elite list of QBs who were taken first overall and went on to win their Week 1 game. With the win, he became just the fourth QB to win the opening game of their rookie year, joining Jim Plunkett, John Elway and David Carr of the Houston Texans.
Williams last year
The No. 1 overall pick had a slump in numbers in his final year in college, but still had a sound season with the USC Trojans. In his Heisman Trophy winning season he had 42 TDs and just 5 INTs while passing for 4,537 yards as a sophomore. Last year he didn’t have as good of a team, and his stats dipped a bit. He threw for almost a thousand less, 3,633 yards, 30 TDs and 5 picks. He still had a handful of spectacular plays, but sat out the final few games of the season knowing that he was going to be the No. 1 pick in the Draft.
Stroud last year
It may not have been the best rookie year we have ever seen, but C.J. Stroud stepped in under center and led a bad team to the playoffs after being drafted with the second overall pick. He won 10 games, threw for 4,108 yards and 23 TDs with only 5 INTs. The rookie didn’t make rookie mistakes. Instead he made game winning plays to lead his young, talented team a 10-7 record and take them to the postseason.
Best season for a rookie QB
It depends on how you rank a rookie season. Is it by wins? Is it by stats? Is it by by Super Bowls won? If it’s by stats, then Andrew Luck might take the cake with his 4,374 yard, 23 TDs and 11-5 record following an 1-15 season. If we are going by wins, you’d have to go with Ben Rothlisberger who went 13-0 before losing in the AFC Championship game. There has yet to be a Super Bowl winning rookie, but that can change with Caleb William this year. It might be far fetched, but this Bears team is going to contend for the NFC North, and if Williams finds his stride, who knows?
Rookie QBs in Week 1
Caleb Williams was one of three rookie that started in Week 1, and even though he was the only one who got the win, his numbers were probably worst of all three. Going just 14/29 for 93 yards, Williams failed to impress. Bo Nix rushed for a TD and went 26/42 for just 128 yards as he dinked and dunked his way through his rookie debut, but did throw 2 INTs and lost the game to the Seattle Seahawks. Jayden Daniels had a solid stat line throwing the ball, going 17/24 for 184 yards and 88 yards with two rushing TDs on 16 carries but those TDs came when the game was long gone. These QBs will get better as the season goes on, the question is, who if any of them will win ROY?
DeMeco’s first year coaching comparison
While the Texans’ 10-7 season was impressive, and DeMeco Ryans certainly deserved his nomination for Coach of the Year, it was far from the best rookie season a first year coach had. George Seifert had a great rookie year going 14-2 with a Niners team that had just won the Super Bowl the year before. The would make it a back-to-back Super Bowl run with Seifert on the sideline. Jim Caldwell took over an already good team when Tony Dungy retired and led Indy to a 14-2 season before losing to the New Orleans Saints in the Super Bowl, and most recently Jim Harbaugh took the Niners to a 13-3 season after going 6-10 the year before. The Niners would go to the NFC Championship before losing to the NY Giants.
Williams on debut
A win is a win, but it was ugly and Caleb Williams knows that. He went just 14/29 for 93 yards, and as the Bears had less than 150 yards of total offense. He knows he’s got to be better, he knows he will get better, but for him the stats from Week 1 didn’t matter. All that mattered was the W, and his defense and specials teams bailed him out in that sense. “Don’t care about stats… I understand that the stats weren’t where I wanted them to be because I want to go out there and perform to the best of my ability. I didn’t do that today… We are going to get better…"
Last year: Texans
Houston took a little while to get going last season. They lost their first two games of the season despite C.J Stroud looking like he was ready to be the stater since Day 1. After a season in which they went 3-13-1 the Texans sizzled to a 10-7 record winning the division for the first time since 2019. Houston would go on to meet the Cleveland Browns and Stroud had a monster game throwing for 280 yards and three TDs to give the Houston franchise their fifth playoff win ever. They would meet the one seed Baltimore Ravens in the next round of the playoffs, and Houston would struggle against a better, more physical, more mature team. The Ravens ousted them from the playoffs, beating them 34-10 while holding Houston to just 213 yards. The dream season came to an end in Baltimore, but that was just the first taste of what’s to come for Houston fans.
Last year: Bears
Chicago looked to be on the verge of disaster last year after losing their first four games and seven of their first nine. It was a year in which they Bears were going to have to decide their future on the fly as Justin Fields was playing for his job in the Windy City. Fields got hurt in Week 6 and missed a month and a half, but when he came back the Bears started playing some competitive football. They won four of their final seven games including a win over division rival Detroit and finished the season 7-10. It wasn’t a strong enough season for the Bears to hang on to Fields, so they sent him away and took Williams in the draft with their first pick.
Star watch: Texans
While Stroud gets most of the well deserved credit for last year’s incredible season, it didn’t just come down to the outstanding rookie. He had plenty of help at WR with Tank Dell and Nico Collins. Dell got injured halfway through the season and missed the final stretch and the playoff run, but now he is back to full strength after an offseason that saw him get shot in the leg. Now they are joined by a couple of game changing weapons that showed just how much they are going to help this team out in the first game of the season.
Star Watch: Bears
While all the attention is centered around Caleb Williams, for good reason, we can’t forget the rest of the cast around him. He’s in a rare position for a No. 1 overall draft pick, because this wasn’t the worst team in the league last year. They got the pick from the Panthers who were the worst team in the league last year. There are good players on both sides of the ball, and the Bears brought in more impact players this offseason. D’Andre Swift is in the backfield and Keenan Allen came from LA to join DJ Moore and Rome Odunze at WR. None of the new or old guys in Chicago had a massive game because Williams didn’t have a massive game, but this offense will get much better of the course of the season.
Last game: Texans
The Texans had to go into the house of their division rivals on a day when they got their face of the franchise back after missing most of his rookie season. Anthony Richardson came back and stunned the Texans early with a 60 yard TD bomb. That would be the last time the Colts would have the lead. C.J. Stroud and his new weapons in the Rocket City took off and took the lead tanks to a TD pass to Stefon Diggs in the second quarter. Diggs caught two TDs, but it was Joe Mixon who made headlines with 159 yards and a TD on 30 carries as HOU held off the Colts for their opening week win.
Last game: Bears
It wasn’t the dream debut for Caleb Williams who’s NFL career got off to a bumpy start but his defense and special teams was there to bail him out. The Titans went up 17-0 on the Bears at Soldier Field, as the offense struggled to move the ball but after the halftime break the special teams came up with a blocked punt that got taken back for a TD to bring the score to 17-10. Chris Santos would hit a couple of field goals to cut the lead to one and then Tyrique Stevenson picked off an ill-advised throw from Will Levis and took that back to the house to take the lead and eventually the Week 1 win.
We are live from Houston
Hello everyone and welcome to Houston where the Texans are home for the first time this season after a tough road win against a division rival last week. Houston have high expectations after a surprise turnaround led by a rookie coach and QB led to a playoff run. That’s what the Bears will be hoping their rookie QB can do in the near future after years of anonymity, and instability at the QB position. The Caleb Williams era started with a win, but it was an ugly win in which the rookie struggled.
Bears vs. Texans
Two of the youngest most promising quarterbacks in the game take the field in a primetime match up from Houston. One QB has already established himself as one of the best gunslingers in the game, while the other one has been touted as the QB of the future. It’s Williams vs. Stroud, Bears vs. Texans on Sunday Night Football and AS English will be with you all night bringing you live coverage, stats, highlights and analysis of tonight’s game from NRG Stadium.