The Texans have only lost to the Bears once. And that was two years ago during COVID-19, with no fans in the building during the lost campaign of 2020. So does that even count?
Yes it does. It's especially notable because some of the players who tormented Houston on that day remain in the Windy City. The most talked about is David Montgomery, who erupted for an 80 yard run on the first Chicago play from scrimmage.
The Texans trailed 14-7 in the second quarter, but saw the Bears run away to a 36-7 victory.
I prefer to recall two of the best road trips I can remember taking.
The 2012 tilt was a Sunday Night Texans classic. Both teams were 7-1 going in. Rain was falling and passing yards were hard to come by. Matt Schaub hit Arian Foster for the only Houston TD. The defense came up with two picks and the Texans were the talk of the NFL.
The other memorable trip was in 2004 in a game that I have discussed many times. This was the Texans version of the Ice Bowl. With the wind chill (21 mile per hour refrigeration coming down from Canada) the temperature was eight degrees below zero. We recorded the temperature in the booth at 10 degrees. My pen froze. We had to keep water in the cooler just to keep it from freezing on our broadcast table. I did push-ups during the break to stay warm. Andre Johnson said there was soup available on the sideline but it froze. Most importantly, the Texans won. David Carr hit Corey Bradford for one of the scores. The Texans prevailed behind a defense that produced four turnovers including picks by Aaron Glenn and Dunta Robinson. More of that, please.
The Bears, Packers and the Arizona Cardinals (who began playing in Chicago before moving to St. Louis) are the oldest NFL franchises. It's a joy to go to Green Bay, which has modernized their stadium yet kept so much of the historical look and charm of earlier days.
Soldier Field went through a massive renovation 20 years ago that kept the exterior but completely updated the inside. It's never quite looked right, like building SoFi Stadium inside the Coliseum. The Roman Coliseum.
Still, when you're there, you see the traditional uniforms, you feel the history of the great Bears teams of the past. Lovie Smith coached some outstanding squads during his nine seasons as head coach there.
This Chicago team might be coming off of a loss but they did beat San Francisco on opening weekend and the Texans have to be at their best to leave happier than they did two years ago.
