Game 9 - Texans at Bears

[emperorjones]

8:20 PM ET, November 11, 2012
Soldier Field, Chicago, IL

Houston Leaders
Passing: Schaub - 159-249, 1918 yds, 12 tds
Rushing: Foster - 192 car, 770 yds, 10 tds
Receiving: Johnson - 42 rec, 562 yds, 2 tds

Chicago Leaders
Passing: Cutler - 144-241, 1774 yds, 12 tds
Rushing: Forte - 107 car, 539 yds, 3 tds
Receiving: Marshall - 59 rec, 797 yds, 7 tds

[BIGGIEsmalls 23]

GO BEARS!!!!!!!!!!

[Jake0890]

With our secondary being a turnover machine, I think Arian Foster gets tons of touches. I think if we can contain him, we have a chance.

[bearadonisdna]

With our secondary being a turnover machine, I think Arian Foster gets tons of touches. I think if we can contain him, we have a chance.

Honestly i dont see any reason why we shouldnt contain him. The Bears have a high ranked run D.
Now making sure Foster doesnt go off in the passing game may be a taller order. Or maybe not.

Seeing Brian go stride for stride with Chris Johnson on the sideline puts me a littlebit more at ease on that.

The Texans may try to force feed us Foster with screen passes and such(Foster has over 600 yards receiving in each of his last two seasons.) Bears have to make sure they kno this is guy who likely wont go down on first contact.

Home crowd has to come to play as they usually do.

We all know the Bears wil need adequate protection for Cutler vs Watt. We all know thats the offensive line, but that also includes Kellen Davis.

[Midway Bully]

Will be interesting to see this game. Houston has one of the top offensive line units in the league, and Bears have a tendency to over pursue at times, so it could be troubling if their line can create some gaps for Foster. While our running defense has been excellent, I'd put that down to Urlacher and Briggs playing at a really high level. The times where the Bears have been gashed for big runs (happened a couple times with LeShoure), it was usually because Urlacher or Briggs failed to shed their blockers. While Melton and Paea are certainly disruptive in the passing game, they can be suspect when plugging the running holes. If we can stop their run game from working, I have a real good feeling about this game. Houston has run the most play action sets of any team these past couple years, and they gain at least 10 yards on every successful play action set. Stop their run game, and this could be a good night.

Offensively, all eyes will be on JJ Watt and how the Bears o-line handles the Texans rush. They haven't missed a beat with Mario Williams gone. They also have Illini product Whitney Mercilus, who a lot of Bears fans wanted in the draft, and he is pretty decent. Their LB squad isn't all that special, especially with Cushing out. Their secondary also holds Danieal Manning, who I always scapegoated when he was with the Bears, and I think he's still susceptible.

Houston also remains as big a question mark as the Bears right now. They've had somewhat of a vanilla schedule so far, though they did give the Ravens a huge beating a couple of weeks ago. Still, I'm not sold on the Ravens at all. And like the Bears, they got beat by the Packers, though the Bears were in it until the end. Texans just got destroyed by Mr Discount Double Check himself.

Also, Tillman might not even play on Sunday night. His wife is expecting their 4th kid any day now, and most likely it will be on Sunday. Let's hope the kid comes out on Monday.

[MalikJoakim24]

Tillman better play, we need him.

[BIGGIEsmalls 23]

With our secondary being a turnover machine, I think Arian Foster gets tons of touches. I think if we can contain him, we have a chance.

The beauty of our turnover reputation is that it forces our opponents to ALWAYS think about it when they have the ball in their hands.

It's kinda like a RB with a fumbling problem. The fumbling is stuck in their head, so they become less aggressive because they are expending much of their energy (physical & mental) trying to NOT fumble.

I think that opposing WRs & RBs become a step slower when they play us because they're expecting us to strip the ball at every opportunity.

Tillman better play, we need him.

I agree.

[fleet]

Jeffery remains sidelined with hand injury
Posted by Larry Mayer on November 7, 2012 – 2:03 pm

Alshon Jeffery continues to improve in his recovery from a hand injury that has forced him to miss the last three games. But the rookie receiver remained sidelined Wednesday when the Bears returned to the practice field to prepare for Sunday night’s home game against the Houston Texans.

http://blog.chicagobears.com/2012/11/07/

[patryk7754]

Max protection!!!

[Midway Bully]

Jeffery remains sidelined with hand injury
Posted by Larry Mayer on November 7, 2012 – 2:03 pm

Alshon Jeffery continues to improve in his recovery from a hand injury that has forced him to miss the last three games. But the rookie receiver remained sidelined Wednesday when the Bears returned to the practice field to prepare for Sunday night’s home game against the Houston Texans.

http://blog.chicagobears.com/2012/11/07/

He is likely to come back against SF from some reports.

[Midway Bully]

Also, Houston is having problems on ST, maybe Hester breaks one (or 2!!???)? Its been a while since I stood up in anticipation of a Hester return.

[Mobby]

Also, Houston is having problems on ST, maybe Hester breaks one (or 2!!???)? Its been a while since I stood up in anticipation of a Hester return.

Was not aware of this; we might need a little Devin Hester time to push us through for the win.

[BIGGIEsmalls 23]

Also, Houston is having problems on ST, maybe Hester breaks one (or 2!!???)? Its been a while since I stood up in anticipation of a Hester return.

Was not aware of this; we might need a little Devin Hester time to push us through for the win.

Well, Hester's best return of the season came last week. Hopefully, he's getting warmed up.

[fleet]

Hester was really aggresive. Not making all the fair catches and not running east and west so much. Something woke his ass up for one game at least.

[BIGGIEsmalls 23]

Hester was really aggresive. Not making all the fair catches and not running east and west so much. Something woke his ass up for one game at least.

Maybe he read our posts before the game

[NZB2323]

My friend posted this on facebook:

Charles Peanut Tillman may miss Sunday's game, his wife may go into labor. Update: Tillman has punched the baby right out of his wife's uterus. Normally this would be harmful for the baby, but Tillman's punches are so precise that the baby came out unharmed. Also, Brian Urlacher caught the baby on the way out and ran it slowly but surely to the nearest nurse.

[BIGGIEsmalls 23]

^^^^^^^^

Risdon's NFL Picks & Analysis For Week 10

Read more: http://football.realgm.com/src_wiretap_ ... z2BeUdy2T2

Houston Texans at Chicago Bears: The two 7-1 teams square off in a battle that is little more than male peacocks fluffing out their plumage in the grand scheme of things. It’s all about pride, and these two defenses both bring a great deal of that to the table. There is a nice subplot here, as the two leaders for the Defensive Player of the Year are both in this game. JJ Watt has been an unstoppable force from the 5-technique for the Texans, while Charles Tillman keeps forcing turnovers and playing strong in both coverage and run support at corner for the Bears. Of course he might miss the game for the birth of his child, which would be a real bummer. (Note: My wife read that sentence and shot me a look that says it’s couchville tonight.)

The biggest matchup advantage for either side is watt and the Texans defensive front attacking the weakest part of the Bears, the offensive line. Even with NT Shaun Cody likely out with injured “riblets”, the Texans defensive line and linebackers have dominated far better lines than Chicago’s. The Bears unit has actually done some things well, and run blocking is one of them. I do also like the special teams advantage for the Bears, and Arian Foster’s occasional bouts of fumblitis are due to flare up any time as well. As long as the Bears can keep Jay Cutler upright--not an easy task here--I think Chicago will be able to manufacture more scoring opportunities than Houston. And I trust Robbie Gould and Brandon Marshall to cash more of those in than Shayne Graham and Andre Johnson. Chicago 19, Houston 17

[fleet]

^^^19-17 ha. I see a 13-6 point scoring desert hellscape and I don't know who has what. The Bears won't score because they can't. Unless the defense sets them up in the redzone. The Texans won't score because the Bears D won't let them.

[bearadonisdna]

Also, Houston is having problems on ST, maybe Hester breaks one (or 2!!???)? Its been a while since I stood up in anticipation of a Hester return.

Lately ive been a proponent of the Bears sending more pressure after the punter. Force him into a bad kick. Sometimes the max return seems a little too passive and we havent been getting good returns from it.

And i dont think the Bears need to send the house, but at least 1 guy pressuring the punter kind of keeps them honest.

[Jake0890]

Tillmans kid is expected to come Monday. He said he should be playing.