Two things came out of the Bears 13-6 loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday night.
One is that they are generally as good as the NFLs best team, which the Texans officially are with their 8-1 record. That was some of the frustration that players felt in the aftermath. They felt they were as good as the Texans going in, they out-gained Houston 249-215, and they intercepted quarterback Matt Schaub twice and sacked him once, something that had happened only 10 times in Houstons first eight games.
The other thing, however, is that they are simply not good enough to win a Super Bowl.
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More than one Texan said the game indeed could have been a Super Bowl preview. I think it would be a heck of a rematch, especially on a better field, said Houston defensive end Antonio Smith. Could they be seeing the Bears in New Orleans? Oh yeah. Heck yeah.
Right now the Texans might in fact be hoping that comes to pass, at least members of the defense.
The offense and quarterback Jay Cutler were exposed. They could not run when they wanted to, with Matt Forte managing just 39 yards on his 16 carries. Cutler still makes throws that a seven-year veteran should not make.
Mike Tice offenses in Minnesota were led in receiving two of the three years he was Vikings head coach. A surprise after this week will be Kellen Davis remaining in the starting lineup after a devastating fumble on the Bears first play and pass drop on what would have been a key third-down conversion late in the fourth quarter.
More to the point, the Bears began nine of their 14 drives with no worse field position than their own 35. The result was exactly two field goals, one after an interception gave them the ball at the Houston 35. A good team would have scored 28 points.
On only one of 14 possessions did the Bears pick up more than one first down and they even had to punt after that one.
Its a loss, said coach Lovie Smith. You have to go from there. We were beaten by a good football team. Were 7-2. Were going to get back. Theres a lot of football left to go.