Remember the good ol' days? When the sun was bright, and football was fun, and no one had a single thought in their mind about the Houston Texans?
It feels like just a week ago that everything was going to plan – the Bears were 1-0, Caleb Williams' showed promise in his debut, and the offensive line was only kind of a mess. It was a different era.
After an ugly 19-13 loss on Sunday Night Football, Bears fans are back in their familiar mental headspace of dread and anxiety. The offensive line looked unplayable, Caleb Williams was, at best, forgettable, and so many of last year's problems showed up again in full. It wasn't a game anyone's going to want to discuss for very long, but it’s one that the team will need to look into if they want to grow into something better than we saw.
Winners and losers from the Bears' Week 2 loss in Houston
Loser: Caleb Williams
Williams' stats (23-37, 174 yards, two INTs) were inarguably better than they were in his NFL debut, and yet somehow it feels like he played worse this week? He very clearly didn't get the help he need – more on that in like 150 words – but DJ Moore's body language by the end of the game was a pretty good indicator of how the night went for the offense. There were more than a couple throws that he'll want back, and while Williams' accuracy was a little sharper against the Texans – at least early in the game – his performance still ended up feeling like something of a let down. I'm not panicking yet, but I'm two games closer to panicking than I'd like to be.
RELATED: Texans got away with a potential game-changing penalty on SNF
Loser: The offensive line (any of them, take your pick)
Seven sacks! The Bears' offensive line was so bad, that *Twitter* was entirely in agreement about what the Bears' biggest issue was. Whether it was Danielle Hunter off the edge or Mario Edwards up the middle, the Texans' defensive front embarrassed the Bears from, like, the second snap of the game. Almost every player on the line made a glaring mistake at one point or another, and new highlights of them blowing assignments showed up on the internet multiple times per quarter. Offensive lines that start the season poorly don't necessarily always end it that way, but the Bears have so much farther to go before they have even an average one.
Winner: Cole Kmet
They remembered him! He was there the whole time! Four catches and 27 yards doesn't really seem like a stat line for someone in the winning category, but, if you think about it, Kmet's slow start – which is probably the weirdest coaching decision the staff has made so far – has only made his value to Chicago higher. Now there's this mystical idea that this group can find another gear simply by targeting Cole Kmet eight times a game instead of five. He's the only player on the Bears who's had a terrible start without garnering a single ounce of criticism. That's a win in its own way.
Winner: Whichever Lineman The Bears End Up Paying In Free Agency This March
I don't know who it'll be, (James Daniels may be available!) but some free agent lineman just made a ton of money off the Bears. Maybe it'll be Zack Martin (I said maybe), or Austin Corbett, or Garrett Bolles. Whoever it is, tonight made it seem obvious that the Bears are going to have one very specific direction that allocate most of their free agent money to this winter. With all the cap space the Bears have to work with, maybe they just buy an entirely new line? It might be a dumb idea but it's a dumb idea that's fun to think about.