Sunday Night’s game between the Houston Texans and Chicago Bears opened with a total of 47 points. The number eventually went down to 45.5, which made the trend the best friend for all under bettors.
The downward movement made sense because both defenses performed well in Week 1. Chicago’s pass defense was third in passing success rate at 33.8% while Houston was eighth at 36.8%, per Next Gen stats.
And that’s how the game ended up playing out, a grind-it-out defensive affair with the Texans eventually winning, 19-13.
The Houston D/ST ($4,000 Showdown; 15 FPTS) held the Chicago offense to 134 yards passing and 71 rushing. They racked up seven sacks and two interceptions. The Bears averaged 3.7 yards per play.
Houston is normally a zone defense team, utilizing it 81.1% of the time in 2023 and 75% in Week 1 against the Colts. Defensive coordinator Matt Burke flipped the script for the Bears, as he went zone only 60.4% of the time and blitzed 41.7%. In Week 1, he called a blitz only 12.5% of the time while he dialed up pressure 21.6% of the time for the 2023 season.
Caleb Williams ($8,800; 9.36 FPTS) finished the game going 23-of-37 for 174 yards and two interceptions. He had a passer rating of 51 and managed a meager 4.7 yards per attempt. He was pressured on 47.9% of his drop backs.
For the Texans offense, it was all about Nico Collins ($10,000; 30.5 FPTS). He caught eight of 10 targets for 135 yards and a touchdown.
In the $1.25M Sunday Night Showdown tournament, Collins was rostered in the CPT slot by 7.9% of teams and 45.8% in the FLEX. The Texans D/ST was in the CPT slot for 5.4% of teams and in the FLEX on 30.1%.
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