HOUSTON — The Houston Texans came from everywhere. From all directions, at all speeds, all gathered for a town hall meeting at the seat of Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams.

By the end, the Chicago Bears’ first-round draft pick had been sacked seven times, more than any other quarterback in a game this young season. According to the league’s Next Gen Stats, Williams was blitzed 20 times in passing situations and pressured 36 times on 37 dropbacks – the latter statistic making it sound like the Texans are lining up in their SUVs for every snap.

The end result was a predictable 19-13 loss that was all too familiar in Chicago: a struggling quarterback, a defense that kept the bottom line respectable, and a host of problems that may not be resolved anytime soon. All that… and pain.

“A little banged up,” Williams said afterward when asked how he took the loss. “You know, I took a few hits today. I’m going to get in the ice tub and do whatever I need to do to make sure my body is ready for tomorrow, practice the other days and of course the next match.”

For the Bears, this is a worrying turning point early in the season. Perhaps not a reason to panic after just two games, but certainly a sign that something fundamental may need to change in the system to compensate for some very real protection issues. Against a struggling Tennessee Titans team that Also pressured the middle of the Bears’ offensive line in a Week 1 win for Chicago. But they won’t get away with it against a franchise like the Texans, which is built with the kind of architecture the Bears aspire to: A frenetic, nasty defense up front with a stingy secondary; a franchise quarterback who seems destined to be a special difference-maker for the next decade and beyond; and a core of quality players at the skill positions that could rival any other offense in the league.

There are some key differences with the Texans. They have an offensive line that has been honed over time into a respectable unit, and a running game that saw major investments in the offseason with the signings of Joe Mixon and Cam Akers, along with Dameon Pierce. That trio should form a respectable running rotation when all three players eventually return to health.

The Texans’ intent was clear coming into this season. Even after quarterback CJ Stroud had a historically stellar rookie season, the franchise wasn’t going to let him become a 40+ pass attempt per game player. Instead, offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik wanted to create some sort of balance that helped his offensive line protect Stroud. That’s why in Week 1 you saw Houston split 36 ​​rushing attempts between running backs and wideouts. That formula was also intended against the Bears before Mixon was knocked out of the game by a hip-drop tackle early in the third quarter.

Despite Mixon’s leg injury, Sunday night should resonate with the Bears. What the Texans did for Stroud, the Bears must do for Williams. Starting with the offensive line, which already looks so overwhelmed that it has to be compared to the units that have often overwhelmed Justin Fields over the past few seasons. To the point that Williams has been pressured multiple times from every position on his line. From left tackle to right and everything in between. And a few times from the tight end.

This led to an offensive flow that never looked organized or sharp, with Williams repeatedly whizzing over the heads of his receivers or throwing ill-advised passes in the run game — suggesting the unstructured chaos that worried some talent scouts ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft. But if you want Williams to operate in a structured manner, you have to give him a structure he can trust. That didn’t happen against the Texans, and that’s why he leaves the second week of the regular season without a single scored touchdown and with two passing performances that are nothing short of ugly.

“When you look at it, we obviously have seven sacks on the offensive line — everybody’s going to talk about that stuff,” Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said. “I think everyone has to be protected. Protecting the tight ends, protecting the runners, protecting the offensive line, protecting the quarterback. Everyone involved. … As far as running, obviously we want to run better than we have. It’s been OK, but not good enough. We have to establish the running game. I think that’s always a good friend for a young quarterback if you can do that.”

There will no doubt be pressure on new coordinator Shane Waldron, whose plays resulted in 353 yards of offense in two games against one of the worst running games in the league. That’s at odds with what Waldron was supposed to do in his two years as the Seattle Seahawks’ offensive coordinator – when he helped balance the game system between the run and the pass. His job in Chicago was supposed to be the opposite: to move the Bears further away from a run-heavy offense and balance it with Williams’ ability to bring a high-level passer into the middle of the game. The result was chaos, and it was on full display against the Texans.

While Waldron’s involvement in this scheme will draw attention, it won’t be enough to distract an offensive line that was repeatedly overrun in a variety of ways by the Texans. The climax of that came late in the fourth quarter, on a drive that could have given the Bears a comeback win. Bears right tackle Darnell Wright (who also had penalty trouble) charged with momentum and faced a second-and-10 at their own 48-yard line. He missed defensive end Danielle Hunter, who undid Williams, causing an 8-yard loss that the quarterback didn’t see coming. That effectively ended the game, sapped Chicago of any momentum and allowed the Bears to offer two more gasp-inducing plays that produced a 1-yard run by Williams and a wide-missed incomplete pass that knocked rookie wide receiver Rome Odunze a full zip code away.

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These kinds of offensive line issues are rarely fixed in a season, unless you can figure out protection packages that move a quarterback around and take pressure off your line, or you can build a running game that allows blockers to break through and develop some chemistry. Time will tell if the Bears can do either. But the goal and the benchmark should be clear by now. They have some of the hallmarks of what the Texans have become. Now they know how far behind they are in the build. That was part of the message Stroud shared with Williams when the two met at midfield after Williams had been beaten down for most of the night.

“I just told (Williams) that everything that got you here is going to benefit you in the long run,” Stroud said. “Don’t be discouraged. Don’t let a tough time discourage you. It’s not going to be easy. You were picked No. 1 for a reason.”

Stroud was talking about Williams’ talent. He might as well have been talking about the previous failures of the last quarterback with high hopes that led to Williams’ selection in the draft. After the Texans’ devastating beating of Williams on Sunday, those failures of Justin Fields and some of the problems they caused seem closer in the rearview mirror than anyone thought.