I have a lot of feelings about last night’s game, and most of them aren’t great. Still, I can’t help but be optimistic about the future in Chicago. Lost in the Bears hype is the indisputable fact that the Houston Texans are a damn good football team, a playoff team last season, and have one of the best passing attacks in the NFL, and the Bears lost by one score in their building on Sunday Night Football last night. Despite all the correctables, and even the ugly ones, that fact alone has me only mildly disappointed with last night’s outcome.

The good thing about the Bears’ loss to the Houston Texans

Caleb Williams (sometimes)

You can hate this all you want, but I don’t care. Caleb Williams did some good things last night, and if I’m going to criticize him for the things he did poorly (and I will), then I’m going to shine a light on the things he did well. This isn’t a film study (that’s coming tomorrow), but I re-watched the game this morning in the All-22 format, so this isn’t just my feeling based on last night’s live watch.

It’s clear that the coaching staff wants Williams to play structure, and that’s fine. He showed last night that he can do that, and his video at USC shows that a lot. However, the offensive line needs to be significantly better for that game plan to work.

Williams was pressured in under 2.5 seconds on 11 dropbacks and was sacked seven times Sunday night. Why is 2.5 seconds important? That’s the designed time it takes for a route to get open. Williams was 15 of 18 for 95 yards when he threw the football under that threshold. That’s good for a CPOE (Completion Percentage Over Expected) of +4.2 percent.

When he had possession of the ball for more than 2.5 seconds, he completed 8 of 19 passes for 79 yards and two interceptions (-11.2% CPOE).

You can argue about the depth of the targets until you weigh an ounce, but that’s not a Williams problem; that’s a (Bears OC) Shane Waldron problem. The play-calling remains confusing and has even taken a step backwards this week.

DJ Moore

Moore is the No. 1 wideout in Chicago for a reason; he’s damn good. He caught six passes for 53 yards and was targeted 10 times last night. I said last week that he needed to be a focal point of the offense against the Texans, and Waldron did a half-hearted job of that. He was a big part of the game plan, but a big part of that plan was getting Moore the ball at or behind the line of scrimmage and expecting him to make things happen in the open field.

Fifty-two of Moore’s 53 receiving yards came on the catch. Using him as a ball carrier out of the backfield or in the screen game is fine, in moderation. Let’s give him some more deep looks in the future. Even if it’s to create space in the intermediate for another route by pulling the safety or a zone corner away from the space between the has mark and the boundary for an out route or one of the middle option routes that Waldron seems to be obsessed with.

The defense

There’s nothing to say here other than give these guys their flowers. They were a bit inconsistent early on when the Texans were scoring most of the points, and Nico Collins looked like Terrell Owens, but they made the adjustments in a jiffy and held one of the most talented offenses in football to 19 points in their building. That’s a winning performance that’s becoming commonplace for this unit.

The special teams

If we never see Velus Jones Jr. again, that’s fine. DeAndre Carter did a great job in the return game, and if Khalil Herbert only gets in the backfield twice, he can contribute there too, just food for thought. Cairo Santons was perfect, and Tory Taylor did a great job turning the field all night.

The bad

Caleb Williams (sometimes)

As I said, once Williams had the ball for more than 2.5 seconds, things got tough for the rookie quarterback. He missed a couple of downfield shots and forced a couple of prayers, two of which were intercepted. Last week, Williams did nothing to lose the Bears the game. This week, he did, even though he had no help around him. I would have liked to have seen Williams stick to the game plan and protect the ball in the second half. Instead, he applied pressure and it didn’t work.

That’s what happens when you get drilled repeatedly. Houston blitzed Williams on 41.7 percent of his dropbacks, which was the highest blitz rate in a game under DeMeco Ryans. The blueprint is there for opposing teams, and Ryans leaned on it. Until that offensive line improves, everyone is going to amplify their blitz numbers when Chicago is on the schedule.

D’André Swift

D’Andre Swift carried the ball 14 times for 18 yards last night, good for 1.3 yards per carry. Swift’s long on the night was seven yards, meaning he only gained 11 yards on his other 13 carries, and I’ll spare you the math on what that per-attempt clip looks like.

I will say this: Waldron’s determination to keep running the ball outside when the offensive line was late to their block all night due to the noise and the silent snap count did Swift no favors. But he was terrible. You can’t tell me Khalil Herbert and Roschon Johnson couldn’t have done this for a lot less money.

Rome Odunze

I dare say that when I re-evaluate my direct grades mid-week, there will be few and far between in which I give someone a drastically different grade than they originally received. Most of the time, the tape provides much-needed context for things I already thought were true, but sometimes it shows us something completely different. Rome Odunze’s performance last night and my first grade will be one of those exceptions to the rule.

Kudos to Rome for sticking it out and playing most of the snaps, let alone playing with an MCL sprain, but he might as well have taken the night off. He threw a touchdown in the endzone that was definitely catchable upon review, and he didn’t get much separation the entire game, which could have been attributed to the knee injury, but if that’s the case, he shouldn’t have played.

The ugly

Shane Waldron

I’m not ready to pack Shane Waldron’s bags for him yet, but I’m getting very close. And that’s saying something after two games.

As I mentioned earlier, the play calling on Sunday night was somehow worse than it was in Week 1 against the Titans. Going back from the Tennessee game is definitely not good. In my Caleb Williams film study last week, I gave Waldron credit for doing things that played to Williams’ strengths (i.e. naked boots, rollouts, etc.). This week, all of that was thrown out the window.

DJ Moore’s route package was wrong. Cole Kmet was more involved than last week (easily achievable) but still not as involved as he should be, and I’ll be happy if I never see Gerald Everett again. Why are we forcing Gerald Everett targets when we have a top 10 tight end on the roster? Also, I’d love to hear Waldron explain the Everett screen from a three-by-one formation on the outside.

Shane Waldron has been a huge disappointment so far. While I still hope he finds some rhythm in the coming weeks, I have been absolutely disgusted by his first two performances as an offensive play-caller in Chicago.

The attack line

I’ve already mentioned the blitz and pressure percentages and success rates from Sunday’s loss to Houston, so there’s no point in repeating them. The offensive line is a important There is a problem right now and Bears GM Ryan Poles has to be on the phone trying to get outside help.

Game management by Matt Eberflus

Matt Eberflus is a great defensive play-caller and seems like a good presence in the locker room, but he leaves something to be desired in almost every area outside of it. His understanding of what an NFL offense should look like is completely non-existent and his game management last night was terrible.