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REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: Texans over Bears, 13-6

Nov 13, 2012, 7:28 PM EDT

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REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK

Texans over Bears, 13-6

Michele Tafoya

WEATHER, OR NOT? 

Pouring rain.  Forceful, unpredictable wind gusts.  Those were the conditions greeting the Texans and Bears as they walked onto Soldier Field during pre-game Sunday Night.

By the time the game was over, Houston was the winner by a touchdown on the rain-soaked field.

In fact, there was only one touchdown scored in this game and it came on a 2-yard pass from Matt Schaub to Arian Foster in the second quarter.

The only other scoring done on this stormy night came in the form of field goals.  Houston’s Shayne Graham and Chicago’s Robbie Gould converted two each.

So how much of a role did the elements play in Sunday Night’s game?

Some would argue that because both teams are subject to the same elements, weather is not a difference-maker in an NFL game.

But what may have come as a surprise was how effective the Texans — who are predominantly a dome team — could be in bad weather.

Houston head coach Gary Kubiak told us in our meeting before the game that he wondered if the wind, rain and sloppy field would affect the speed of Houston’s defense.

But Texans’ defensive coordinator Wade Phillips had a game plan that cut through the storm in the end.

Texans CB Daniel Manning, who spent the first five years of his NFL career with the Bears, returned to the Windy City for the first time since leaving after the 2010 season.

Manning set the tone early by forcing a fumble on the Bears’ opening drive.  LB Tim Dobbins recovered.  (Shortly thereafter, Dobbins went to the locker room to have his shoulder looked at.  But the seven-year veteran returned and later made his biggest play of the game.)

Later in the 1st quarter, Manning further marked his return to Chicago with an interception.  Former teammate Brian Urlacher even shook Manning’s hand after the big play.

The Texans continued to beat the Bears at their own take-away game when Bradie James came up with another fumble recovery, and Kareem Jackson picked off Cutler for the Bears fourth turnover.

Then came a game-changer courtesy of Dobbins.  Adding injury to insult, the linebacker threw a thundering hit on Cutler late in the second quarter.  Cutler was slow to get up, and the ill-affects of the hit were apparent as he finished out the half.

After halftime, Lovie Smith emerged from the Bear’s locker room when I asked him if Cutler was OK.

“No, he’s not,” Lovie replied.

Cutler had been knocked out of the game with a concussion, and backup Jason Campbell took over.

Campbell threw and completed more passes in the second half (11/19 for 94 yards) than Cutler did in the first (7/14 for 40 yards and 2 INTS), but the Bears could not get into the end zone.  The second half became little more than a kicking competition.

The weather after all didn’t hurt one team more than the other, but it did affect the way the game was played.  Both defenses had to rise to the occasion, and on this night the Texans D rose a little higher.

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