Takeaways from the Chicago Bears against the Texans on Sunday Night Football

It wasn't a good night for the Chicago Bears.

The Houston Texans were too much. The Bears and their star rookie weren't enough. That showed in the Texans' 19-13 win over the Bears.

Here are our takeaways from the Bears' first primetime test, coming against the Texans on Sunday night.

The offensive line struggled

There were four sacks, too many pre-snap penalties and too many pressures. The line could not contain the Texans defensive line.

There were seven sacks, with the fifth planting Caleb Williams at his own one-yard line and forcing a punt out of the Bears' own end zone. Not optimal at all.

This is a continuation of the issues the Bears had against the Titans. The Bears could only get something going when the Titans were pinned against the wall.

The Texans were never in such a position on Sunday night. They forced the Bears to make a play.

The offensive line couldn't hold together long enough to find sustained success. It's now a problem spot for the Bears, who are down Ryan Bates for at least four weeks. 

Tory Taylor was worth every part of a fourth-round pick

Without Tory Taylor, the Bears might not have been able to pin the Texans back.

On primetime, the rookie showed up.

Taylor punted the ball five times and planted two inside the 20. The field position game is too important to mess around with. With a rookie quarterback, any kind of advantage is necessary.

Taylor gives the Bears one every game. You can argue that he hasn't had a bad punt through two games.

It takes a lot to break the Bears defense

CJ Stroud went down and slapped the Bears with a 28-yard touchdown on second and 24.

After that, the Bears' defense dug in.

Allowing a few field goals is acceptable against a team that dropped 29 points the week prior. Holding them to a field goal at the end of the half. That led to a third quarter where neither team got on the board.

The Bears almost had multiple turnovers but still showed their fangs. A third-down pass break up in the fourth by Tyrique Stevenson ended a Texans drive where a touchdown would have felt like a kill shot. It makes it 19-10.

Instead, the defense held.

When the Texans were at the Bears' three-yard line, Andrew Billings forced a fumble that Kevin Byard recovered. That wouldn't been game over, but the Bears' defense still gave the team a chance.

Bears can't count on their defense for an entire game

Last week, the Bears took advantage of Will Levis making a bone headed play. You can't count on that every week.

Stroud was not making those kinds of errors, especially on primetime. Stroud was stellar and composed. He didn't make any errant throws.

Waiting on the Bears' defense can work against the Titans. It doesn't work against playoff-caliber teams like Houston.

The Bears offense still has no identity

The Bears, at one point, were averaging one yard per rush. They were connecting on horizontal throws, but nothing vertical from Shane Waldron's playbook got the Bears' offense going.

Granted, it was hard against the Texans defense. Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter wreaked havoc and caused chaos.

The Bears did themselves no favors with poorly blocked plays and penalties galore. There was no indication the Bears have any desire to go vertical. When Williams did, he was picked off by Derek Stingley Jr.

There wasn't a stable running game that kept the Texans honest.

All of this, however, comes back to takeaway No. 1. Without some stable offensive line play, the Bears' offense is going to keep struggling.