Not only is it time to open the home schedule for 2024, it's also time to welcome in a foe we haven't seen at NRG Stadium in eight years. Oh, and did you know that the game is on Sunday Night Football, the first time that's happened in five years?
That said, the Chicago Bears are ready to rock after a come from behind 24-17 win over the Tennessee Titans at home in Chicago in week one.
Let's dive into the Numbers for this matchup.
1750 - The Texans haven't played a Sunday night game, home or away, in five years or 1,750 days. On December 1st, 2019, the Texans knocked off Fox Sports broadcaster Tom Brady and his New England Patriots 28-22 and the Texans haven't played on Sunday night since. Saturday night? Yes, last year. Monday night? 2019. Sunday night? 1,750 days ago.
12 - The Texans have played the Bears before on a Sunday night. That matchup took place a dozen years ago, on a wet, cold and rainy night in Chicago. Consequently, the Texans weathered the storm that night, beating the Bears 13-6 in Soldier Field. That moved the Texans to 8-1 in that season.
159 - Joe Mixon's rushing performance was one of the best in Texans history and it earned him AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors. Mixon finished with 159 yards, just seven yards away from being third best Texans performance of all-time. As it was, Mixon's performance was sixth behind Arian Foster's top three performances, Lamar Miller's MNF output against the Titans in 2018 and Carlos Hyde's showing in London in 2019.
22 - Nico Collins finished week one with six catches for 117 yards against the Indianapolis Colts. Over the past three matchups with the Colts, Collins has nearly two dozen receptions, in addition to well over 450 yards receiving.
2 - Jalen Pitre had two interceptions the last time the Texans played the Bears in 2022.
1 - Rookie S Calen Bullock has a 1:1 INT to games played ratio after coming up with an interception in his first game at Indianapolis. He'll play his former USC teammate Caleb Williams on Sunday night.
29 - Bears QB Caleb Williams threw 29 passes against the Tennessee Titans in week one.
22 - Of those, 22 Willams passes were under ten air yards.
7 - Williams threw only ten passes over ten air yards, completing just one of them.
40 - The Texans, courtesy of the boffo running game, held the ball for twice the amount of time in week one than the Colts. 40 minutes of time of possession led the league after week one.
14 - Of the Bears 24 points against the Titans, the defense and special teams were directly responsible for 58% (14 of 24) of that scoring. Former Texan Jonathan Owens returned a blocked punt for a touchdown and CB Tyrique Stevenson took a gift interception from Titans QB Will Levis back for a touchdown as well.
2 - Bears DE Montez Sweat was the first player in NFL history to ever lead TWO different teams in sacks in the same season. He posted 6.5 sacks in eight games for the Commanders, then was traded to Chicago for week nine and posted 6.0 sacks in Chicago. He is a menace and we need to see him stopped on Sunday night.
18 - The Bears have 18 interceptions since Sweat arrived in Chicago in week nine of last year, which leads the NFL.
Alright, that's going to do it as we get final prep ready for Sunday night against the Bears. FIVE YEARS, BABY - that's a long, damn time and it ends on Sunday night.
