Sunday, December 13, 2020, Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois, 1 p.m. ET
Texans at Bears Betting Preview: Texans (-1/-110), Bears (+1/-110)
Houston Texans
The Texans (4-8) have won two of their past three games but will look to bounce back from a 26-20 loss against the Indianapolis Colts a week ago. The teams combined for 44 points in the first half and only two points in the second half off a safety by the Colts.
This season has not gone according to plan for Houston, but interim coach Romeo Crennel has helped to steady the ship. After the Texans started the season 0-4 under former head coach Bill O’Brien, who then was fired, the team has posted a 4-4 record with Crennel at the helm.
Deshaun Watson certainly is not the reason for Houston’s woes. Watson enters Week 14 with an impressive 110.0 passer rating on the season. He has completed 68.8 percent of his passes for 3,542 yards, 24 touchdowns and six interceptions.
Chicago Bears
The Bears (5-7) are falling apart, and with each defeat that piles up, the scrutiny intensifies regarding the future of general manager Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy. Chicago has lost six games in a row, including a 34-30 collapse at home last week against the Detroit Lions.
Can Nagy get his players to regroup after a long string of disappointments? Maybe. But he will need a better effort from his defense, which has appeared to lose focus while giving up 75 points over the past two weeks. That marks a sharp downturn for a unit that had not surrendered more than 26 points in any of its first 10 games.
The Bears’ offense remains a work in progress, with Mitchell Trubisky coming off a good performance that ended with an awful turnover against Detroit. Trubisky has an 88.2 passer rating this season with 1,069 passing yards, 10 touchdowns and five interceptions.
Texans at Bears Betting Pick for Week 14
Both teams have turned in disappointing seasons and appear headed for sub-.500 finishes. But Houston is playing better right now, and until the Bears prove that they can put together a winning game plan, it will be hard to make a case for them.
Another factor to consider is that the Bears turned down a chance to draft Watson in 2017. Instead, Pace traded up to the No. 2 overall spot to select Trubisky, leaving Watson and his incredible college credentials on the board. Houston eventually picked Watson at No. 12 overall.
Could Watson still feel slighted? Could he try to stick it to the team that passed on him? It would not be a surprise in the least.
Texans at Bears Betting Pick:
Texans 31, Bears 21
Texans at Bears Best Bet for Week 14
The weather forecast is something worth watching as game time approaches. Early forecasts call for a high of 33 degrees and a low of 23 degrees, with a chance for precipitation. Any kind of wet weather could lead to a sloppy field along Chicago’s chilly lakefront, which could subdue both offenses. However, the Bears’ defense has been a sieve of late, and Houston has given up 26.9 points per game, which ranks 24th in the league. Barring nasty weather, look for the offenses to prevail.
Texans at Bears Best Bet: OVER 45 total points (-108)
