SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Texans rookie quarterback Davis Mills stared down his read, forcing the football into heavy traffic Sunday afternoon.
It was a crucial error by Mills as he was intercepted by San Francisco 49ers linebacker Marcell Harris. Although Harris nearly lost a fumble when Chris Conley ripped the football out with Rex Burkhead recovering, a quick whistle bailed Harris out when officials determined that his forward progress had been halted before he fumbled.
The interception in the third quarter led to the 49ers scoring a go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter as the Texans squandered a 7-3 lead and never threatened again as they were outscored in the second half 20-0 during a 23-7 defeat at Levi’s Stadium that snapped a two-game winning streak.
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As pivotal as the turnover was from Mills, it was far from the only error as the momentum the Texans had built a week ago in an upset victory over the Los Angeles Chargers disappeared into an exercise in frustration.
The running game that thrived against the Chargers with a season-high 189 yards on the ground regressed to its usual moribund state. The Texans rushed for 86 yards on 27 carries, an average of 3.2 yards per run despite plenty of run-heavy formations with backup offensive guard Max Scharping entering the game as an extra blocker. One week after rushing for a career-high 149 yards and two touchdowns, Rex Burkhead was limited to 47 yards on 16 carries as he averaged just 2.9 yards per run.
All of it led to the Texans falling to 4-12 for the season as the 49ers took control.
“In the second half, we did some of the things we had been doing earlier to lose ball games,” Texans coach David Culley said. “We didn’t protect the ball. We weren’t able to stay consistent on offense and we gave up some big plays on defense that we hadn’t been giving up.
“Those things have been our Achilles heel all year long. I have to look at the video to make sure, but it looked like we had some missed assignments there on a couple of their big plays. Other than that, those have been the things that got us all year long.”
Down 10-7 in the third quarter, tight end Pharaoh Brown, the most penalized player on the team and called the “No. 1 violator” in terms of penalty infractions by tight ends coach Andy Bischoff days before kickoff, was flagged for holding. It wiped out a 50-yard pass to wide receiver Brandin Cooks, who scored the Texans’ only points on a first-half touchdown catch.
“Obviously, we had a holding penalty that set us back,” Culley said. “We had penalties last week too. I just need to look at it and keep harping on it. Guys just have to understand that you can’t have bad penalties. They’re critical penalties that are always having an issue with us continuing drives on offense and stopping drives on defense.”
Against the NFL’s fourth-ranked defense, the Texans had little hope of mounting a consistent attack.
Mills got off to a solid start, completing 11 of 15 passes for 79 yards in the first half with one touchdown and a 107.4 passer rating. He finished 21 of 32, though, for 163 yards, one score, the big interception and a 75.4 passer rating. In the second half, Mills completed just six of 17 passes for 84 yards and a turnover.
The rhythm the Texans displayed during a 12-play, 80-yard scoring drive capped by Cooks’ 8-yard touchdown pass from Mills was nowhere to be found.
“I think in this type of game it’s huge to be able to play complementary football,” said Cooks, who finished with seven catches for 66 yards and eclipsed the 1,000-yard receiving mark. “For the defense to get a stop, to be able to go up two (scores) would’ve been huge. But we simply didn’t execute, and that’s where we have to grow.”
The Texans emphasized a lot of Burkhead runs despite a lack of effectiveness.
“We just didn’t execute,” Culley said. “We were running some of the same plays in the second half that we did in the first half, we just didn’t execute them as well. The plan was to do exactly what we did, we just didn’t do it well in the second half. We just didn’t play as well. It wasn’t anything they did, it was just us not executing.”
Even though the Texans ran more wide-open spread plays after halftime, Mills was under constant duress. He was sacked three times and hit eight times overall. While Pro Bowl defensive end Nick Bosa never hit Mills, Arden Key had a sack and four quarterback hits.
“Those guys, obviously a lot of respect for them,” Mills said. “They did a great job just applying pressure. Overall though, I felt like we held up well. Up front, I felt like our guys stayed in front of them and gave me time to get through my progressions. Obviously, I was able to find the backs and for check downs. I was able to see enough to get through progressions and find the backs. So, they were giving me enough time to do that but a lot of respect for those guys. They played well.”
The Texans used Scharping to try to improve the run, which worked at times. However, the passing game lacked punch.
“That (Scharping substitutions) was mostly for the run,” Culley said. “We’ve done that all year. We just did a little bit more of it here because we felt like it gave us an advantage and we had some good plays off of that. Basically, he was just in for the run game. That had nothing to do with Bosa.”
Plus, kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn’s missed 45-yard field goal in the fourth quarter prevented the Texans from tying the score. The 49ers answered with rookie quarterback Trey Lance hitting wide receiver Deebo Samuel for a 45-yard touchdown.
Culley called for Cameron Johnston to punt while trailing 17-7 with 6:54 to play at the 49ers’ 41-yard line. He attributed that decision to still holding all three timeouts and having faith in the defense.
“I felt like if we got them backed up, get a stop with the three timeouts, then we’d be able to get a score and get the ball back,” Culley said. “It didn’t work out that way. “
Ultimately, the interception was a crushing blow.
“On that interception I threw, I thought I had Chris,” Mills said. “Was able to sit down and zone adjust it, and then that guy just was a little too tight in coverage on him and I just threw it to him. I've got to make a better decision there. Obviously, a loss is a lot harder to deal with than a win for the locker room, but the big thing for us is just continuing to fight. “
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