Texans Defense Comes Up Big in Finale

24 points allowed to a struggling offense such as the Chicago Bears may not be that impressive on paper, but the Texans defense stepped up and took control of a game that appeared to be getting away early on.

“When it was ten to nothing I think they had the ball twice; once at the fifty and once at their own forty and had two really good possessions with us down ten-zero and our defense stepped up both times and stopped them,” Texans head coach Gary Kubiak said. “That was the key because all of a sudden the momentum was headed big time in one direction.”

After being down quickly 10-0, Houston’s defense quickly became impenetrable, and allowed just one scoring drive in the Bears next eight possessions before Chicago scored a meaningless touchdown at the end.

“I think the defense really turned it around from the standpoint of, when we were sloppy offensively they had about two or three stops there with the score ten to nothing which really got us in the hole, and then we finally made a couple big plays and moved the ball extremely well the second (quarter) to the end of the game so I think it was the defense holding on when the score was ten to nothing,” Kubiak said.

The Chicago game seemed to be a microcosm for the Texans season as they started off slowly, then fought back toward respectability.

“Down early, just like our season,” DeMeco Ryans said. “We started in the hole, 0-4, and we bounced back. Bounced back to become 8-8. So, it’s a good feeling.”

The key to stopping Chicago was slowing down Bears rookie running back Matt Forte which is exactly what Houston did on Sunday, as they held Forte to just 50 yards rushing.

“I think we tackled pretty darn well in the first series,” Kubiak said. “We did a good job of tackling from there on out. Got them into some tough third down situations as we got going in the game and just did a good job of keeping him in check.”

Despite the strong finish, there are reports flying around that there will be some coaching changes on the defensive staff.

“That’s unfortunate, but that’s part of our job,” Kubiak explained to reporters. “There’s always things being said, especially this time of year. I go into evaluation mode tomorrow morning. I evaluate this guy right here first, I evaluate my coaches, I evaluate the players and that’s what we’ll go to work on.”

If Houston is going to repeat the success they enjoyed in the second half of the 2008 season, it will have to be with better play from their defense, which is something that they’ve showed sporadically this year.