The Texans defense harassed Caleb Williams all night long in Sunday's 19-13 victory at NRG Stadium.
Houston sacked the Bears' rookie quarterback seven times and hit him a total of 11 times. The Texans logged a pair of interceptions as well, and limited the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft to a 51.0 passer rating.
Defensive ends Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson both logged 1.5 sacks apiece, while defensive end Derek Barnett and defensive tackle Mario Edwards, Jr. each brought Williams down once.
"It's always fun getting after any quarterback," Anderson said. "This week we just wanted to keep putting pressure in his face. Watching the tape like last week, we're just gelling more trying to get better at rushing together. That was our first time last week. I think we did a hell of a job rushing together, having fun."
According to Next Gen Stats, when he was blitzed, Williams completed just 3-of-12 passes for 15 yards and an interception. He was sacked on blitzes five times.
"It starts up front with our defensive line," Texans Head Coach DeMeco Ryans said. "Will, Danielle, Mario, all the guys, the way they were rushing together and the way we were covering in the back end really set things apart for us."
Still, Williams was able to wiggle out of several would-be sacks with his elusiveness. Anderson and company didn't get discouraged after the times they were unable to drop him.
"Caleb, man, he was slippery," Anderson said. "When we came back to the sidelines and somebody missed a sack...(we said) 'Keep chopping wood, it's going to come.'"
The final chopping of wood for a sack came on Chicago's last drive. With 1:07 remaining, and facing a 2nd-and-10 at the Chicago 47-yard line, Hunter broke free and dropped Williams for a loss of eight yards. A scramble for a yard, and then an incompletion on fourth down followed, and the Texans took over with 30 seconds remaining. Just moments after quarterback C.J. Stroud knelt out the clock to end the game, Hunter explained what he and the defense were able to do.
"We knew it was going to come down to the D line," Hunter said. "So we practiced this week and we went out there and we executed our rush plan. Just playing loose just going fast and running the defense that DeMeco made us run."
The Texans now have nine sacks through two games this season.
They'll face the Vikings in Minneapolis next Sunday at noon CT.
