McClain: Fairbairn’s Historic Performance, Smothering D, Gives Texans Victory

“We talk about the D-line being the engine of the team,” Anderson said. “We have the right group of guys to do that. Caleb was slick. On the sideline, someone was saying, ‘Keep chopping wood, the sacks are coming.’

“It’s always fun to get after a quarterback. This week we wanted to put pressure on him and (focus) on rushing together. I think we did a great job rushing together and having fun.”

Anderson and Hunter combined for three sacks. Mario Edwards Jr., Derek Barnett, Azeez Al-Shaair and Henry To’oTo’o each had one sack.

“We had the mentality to swarm them and make them one-dimensional,” To’oTo’o said.

Cornerbacks Derek Stingley Jr. and rookie Kamari Lassiter intercepted Williams.

“It starts up front with our defensive line,” Ryans said. “Will, Danielle, Mario – all the guys – the way they came together, the way we covered the back end. That made it really special. Kudos to Sting and Kamari for the way they covered, allowing those guys to press. You don’t get pressure unless you cover tight. Those guys covered well and let the rush come there.”

Ryans and defensive coordinator Matt Burke are very proud of the way their defense stopped the run. The Bears averaged 3.2 yards rushing. Subtract a 24-yard rush from Williams and the Texans gave up 47 yards and 2.2 per carry.

Just as in their first game against the Colts’ Jonathan Taylor (48 yards, 3 per carry), the Texans smothered running back D’Andre Swift, limiting him to 18 yards on 14 carries, a 1.3 average. Williams finished as Chicago’s leading rusher with 44 yards on five carries.

“Our guys did a great job of setting the perimeter,” Ryans said. “They tried to run the ball outside a lot. Guys were just swarming inside and outside to the ball. We had a little bit of movement up front. The way our guys tackled was really nice.”

In his second start, Williams again failed to produce a touchdown by passing or running, finishing 23 of 37 (62.2 percent) for 174 yards. His longest completion was 27 yards. He averaged 4.7 yards per attempt with a 51.0 rating.

Williams played without veteran receiver Keenan Allen, who was inactive due to injury. Rookie Rome Odunze was limited by a knee injury and contributed two receptions for 33 yards.

With the Texans shutting down the run, Williams was faced with too many obvious passing situations and was forced to throw on the move too often. Ryans called blitzes on 41.7 percent of Williams’ dropbacks — the highest percentage in his two seasons with the Texans — according to NextGenStats. When the Texans blitzed, they recorded 12 pressures and five sacks.

“They played great,” Stroud said of the defense. “Shoutout to them. We lean on each other and I’m super proud of those guys.”

Anderson was impressed by the primetime atmosphere with the roof down.

“It was awesome,” he said. “I got chills. I looked up and I’d never seen it (the roof) open before. It was awesome to see the fans come out. We do it for the fans. We want H-Town to mean something. We want our fans to be a part of something big.”

The game was one of the most physical of Ryan’s two seasons. Al-Shaair knocked Williams out of bounds and was overrun by his Chicago teammates, resulting in a lot of pushing and shoving. Al-Shaair could face a league fine for throwing a sideline punch.

Safety Jalen Pitre was the player who threw the hardest punch of the game. Coaches love that kind of mentality.

“Guys were flying from sideline to sideline,” Ryans said. “Pitre definitely stood out. He plays physical. He was active. He was on the ball a lot. Some big hits. That’s what we’re all about, physical defense. Pitre put it on tape. If you’re going to let us play, it’s going to be a physical brand of football.”

And yet, this game was more exciting than it needed to be. Collins, who had been called for unsportsmanlike conduct on the previous play after being caught charging at cornerback Tyrique Stevenson for stuffing his fingers into his face mask, made a great catch and ran to score the game’s lone touchdown. He finished with eight catches for 135 yards, a 16.9 average. He had a one-handed catch for a first down on the sideline that was a showstopper. Collins was getting a game ball for the first time in his career.

One reason the Texans scored just one touchdown is because they struggled running the ball, generating just 75 yards rushing and 3.4 a carry against a Chicago defense designed to stop the run.

Stroud finished 23 of 36 for 260 yards and a touchdown. He didn’t throw an interception, averaged 7.2 yards per attempt and finished with a 94.7 rating.

What bothered Ryan most was that the Texans were given 12 penalties for 115 yards.

“That’s definitely the focus – undisciplined football,” Ryans said. “We can’t play like that. That’s not what we’re about. We’ve got to clean that up across the board. There were penalties at every stage. We let them stay in the game because we helped them, right? We’ve got to pick that up.”

The Texans committed one turnover, and it could have been disastrous. They led 19-10 when Fairbairn hit his final field goal early in the fourth quarter. They had a first down at the Bears’ 4 with 6:38 to go, and backup running back Cam Akers lost a fumble. Chicago responded with a field goal to pull the Bears within six with 2:45 to go.

The Bears got the ball one last time and needed seven points to win. Hunter’s 8-yard sack left the Bears with no downs at their 40.

“The lessons you learn through adversity, you can only learn through times like this,” To’oTo’o said. “I think it’s good that we have it now because later, when we have another game like that, we know how to deal with it.”