The Bears (1-0) hit the road for the first time this season when they visit the Houston Texans (1-0) on Sunday Night Football. Here are three things that should increase their chances of winning the game:

(1) Establish the run

A productive ground game would no doubt help the Bears sustain drives and control the ball. It would likely set up manageable third downs and increase the effectiveness of play-action passes because the Texans defense would have to respect the run. In last weekend's 24-17 season-opening win over the Titans, the Bears offense was held to 148 yards and 11 first downs, converted 2-of-13 third-down plays (15.4%) and didn't score a touchdown.

"We always want to have that balance of the run and the pass," said offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. "This past week, [we] wanted to do a better job of getting some more runs off and eliminating the negative plays when you have sudden change situations … We want to get the runs going in those scenarios. That's just part of the offense as a whole with what we want to be as a balanced system and starting with running the ball."

The Bears are confident that rookie quarterback Caleb Williams will show improvement from Week 1 to 2 after completing 14 of 29 passes for 93 yards and a 55.7 passer rating in his first NFL start against Tennessee.

Asked what he wants to see from the No. 1 overall pick in the draft in Houston, Waldron said: "Just going out there and playing with clean eyes, clean feet. First chance to get out in a road environment, which I'm sure will be rocking on Sunday night, to be able to get to operate that way. Great communication with his guys up front, and the receivers, the running backs, the tight ends, everyone supporting him and knowing that as an offense, we want to keep improving every single week."

Williams will face a Houston defense that's led by star ends Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter, a four-time Pro Bowler who signed with the Texans this year after registering 87.5 sacks in eight seasons with the Vikings, including 16.5 last season.

"They have a great motor, and they have great power at the top of the rush," said coach Matt Eberflus. "They can level back. They can bull rush. They have their ways of getting around the quarterback; they can bore around the edge. They work well with the defensive tackle next to them. They do a really good job of four equals one. They operate out of the four-man rush and do a really good job working off each other."

(2) Contain the explosive Texans offense

Reigning AFC offensive rookie of the year C.J. Stroud quarterbacks a star-studded collection of skill-position players that includes receivers Stefon Diggs and Nico Collins and running back Joe Mixon. Houston traded for Diggs and Mixon during the offseason, and the two newcomers combined to score all three Texans touchdowns in last Sunday's 29-27 season-opening road win over the Colts.

Stroud threw for 234 yards with two touchdowns and a 115.9 passer rating. Diggs had six receptions for 33 yards and two TDs. Collins caught six passes for 117 yards. And Mixon rushed for 159 yards and one TD on a career-high 30 carries, the most yards by any NFL running back in Week 1. Those performances helped the Texans possess the ball for 40:00 and run 76 plays to the Colts' 43.

In 2023, Stroud had one of the best rookie years in league history, throwing for 4,108 yards with 23 TDs, five interceptions and a 100.8 passer rating in leading the Texans to the AFC South championship. His 25-5 touchdown-to-interception ratio since the start of the 2023 season is tops in the NFL.

"He's an all-around quarterback," said cornerback Tyrique Stevenson. "If the pocket closes, he can get out with his feet. He can make all of the throws. He's a great quarterback. He showed you all last year coming in with the rookie season, taking this team where they needed to go to make the playoffs."

The Bears will counter with a defense that held the Titans scoreless in the second half last Sunday and generated the go-ahead touchdown on Stevenson's 43-yard interception return of a Will Levis pass. With their rush and coverage working in concert, the Bears permitted just 104 yards passing, the second fewest in Week 1.

"Good challenge for us this week," said defensive coordinator Eric Washington. "The first is to the defense making sure we play to our standard for four quarters in every aspect of what we do with all of our values, our culture, and then just stopping the run and just doing everything we can going into this week to elevate our level of play: our discipline, ball production, hits on the quarterback, just being efficient on first and second down. We want to make sure we take a pretty decent jump this week."

(3) Win the turnover battle

The Bears' plus-three turnover ratio last Sunday against the Titans keyed their victory. The offense kept them in the game by not giving the ball away and the defense generated three takeaways, all in the fourth quarter.

After tying for the NFL lead with 22 interceptions last season, the Bears picked up where they left off versus Tennessee, with both of their starting cornerbacks registering crucial interceptions. Stevenson returned his 43 yards for the go-ahead touchdown and Jaylon Johnson sealed the win with his.

A marquee matchup between two talented position groups Sunday night will pit the Bears secondary against the Texans receivers. Johnson and Stevenson are joined by safeties Jaquan Brisker and Kevin Byard III and nickel back Kyler Gordon, while Houston boasts an explosive trio of receivers in Diggs, Collins and Tank Dell.

It won't be easy to pick off Stroud; he's only thrown five interceptions since entering the NFL last year. But he has been sacked 42 times in 16 games, including four times last weekend in Indianapolis. The Bears no doubt would greatly enhance their chances of winning Sunday night's game if they're able to generate consistent pressure from their front four like they did versus Tennessee.

In that game, defensive end Darrell Taylor registered two sacks and defensive tackle Gervon Dexter Sr. had one, and pressure from defensive end DeMarcus Walker led directly to Stevenson's pick-six.