December 28, 2008
Bears Overlook the Spoiler Alerts
by Keith Weiland
Keith@IntheBullseye.com

Having long been reduced from playoff consideration, the Texans spent their final month of the 2008 season trying to dent the postseason aspirations of their opponents.

First they took it to the Packers in sub-freezing conditions on the road to keep them from playoffs, then the Texans overcame the Titans to delay any clinching of home field advantage. Finally, in finishing off the Bears with a 31-24 victory at home, they completed their spoiler destiny in sending Chicago home for January.

Once again, it was the offensive effort that propelled the Texans to victory. Amassing 455 yards of production to the Bears' 294, the Texans just needed to prevent the one thing that had kept them from their own postseason dreams all season: turnovers. And they needed some much needed karma from replay review to do it this time.

Key Play

Up by ten midway through the fourth quarter (does that sound familiar Rosenchopper fans?), running back Steve Slaton fumbled the football at the Chicago 20 (I know a redzone turnover sure sounds familiar to me). Replay however proved that Slaton was on the ground when the ball came out, the first time this season that the team had a challenge they called ruled in their favor.

Had Kubiak lost the challenge for the fifth time in five tries, momentum certainly would have shifted to the Bears, and the 10-point lead might have been compromised.

Instead of benching Slaton for the miscue as head coach Gary Kubiak had done in last week's game against the Raiders, he fed his rookie the ball with four more handoffs, the last of which was a 2-yard touchdown for a commanding 31-17 lead with 3:28 remaining in the game.

Game Balls

Andre Johnson concluded the best season of his career with a 10-catch, 148-yard, 2-TD performance, the most output of any receiver that had faced the Bears all year. Johnson is the heart of this, the league's third best offense, not so much in the emotional sense but in that his is the steady pulse that keeps the offensive flow pumping.

Kudos as well to Baby Shan, having finally been handed the reins of offensive playcalling from Kubiak. Baby Shan showed an understanding of what makes this offense works, and in doing so, should hopefully free up Kubiak to focus on other head coaching aspects of game preparation and execution.

Key Stat

27-36, 328, 2-0

If Johnson is the heart of the offense, then Matt Schaub is its brain. Physically, it has been another demanding season for Schaub, but he was clinical in completing 75 percent of his passes against the Bears for 328 yards and two scores with no interceptions.

Having available weapons like Johnson and Slaton helped him look good, but Schaub has really put together a nice season since that ugly 0-2 start. Take out those first two games against the Steelers and Titans, and Schaub's stats reflect a 67.4 percent completion rate with a 14-5 TD-to-INT ratio and a per game passing yardage total of 295 - - and that even includes his injury-shortened game against the Vikings.

Take those stats over a full season (please!), and we're talking about a quarterback that throws for 4,700 yards and 25 touchdowns versus just 9 interceptions. Not too shabby for ol' Schaubby... if he can find a way to avoid the dirty hits and stomach bugs, that is.

Looking Forward to 2009

The win elevated the Texans to an 8-8 record for the second straight season, a mild disappointment in the end given this is the best roster talent-wise ever assembled in team history. A fourth down stop in Jacksonville, a Rosenchopper fumble - it's easy to see just a couple key plays in which this team really deserved a better record than it has.

Perhaps more importantly though, the 8-4 finish, including wins in five of their last six games, is most telling as this group of players still believes in Kubiak and has significant promise for the 2009 season. One more productive offseason, and the Texans will simply be too good to be mediocre once again.

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