Bears defeat Texans in weather-shortened Hall of Fame Game

Johnson may have only appeared open to Rypien when the quarterback lofted a pass down the right sideline to the 6-foot-6 receiver late in the first half. Johnson soared over the 6-foot Ford and plucked the ball out of the air. It was similar to a go-route the two had connected on in practice a few days ago that stoked their chemistry.

“It was one pass, one catch, but it was a big-time play for us,” Johnson said. “It was a go ball and he put it back shoulder right on the money, where a big receiver like me likes it. So I told him that’s the perfect ball for me.”

“We connected kind of the same way [in practice],” Rypien said. “It was another down-the-field, just-give-him-a-chance 50/50 type of ball. Even one of those gives you a lot of confidence in a guy that he’s going to go up and make a play. So anytime I saw an opportunity when they were playing man coverage tonight, I was trying to take advantage of that.”

The Texans scored on their first two possessions of the game, taking a 10-0 lead on Davis Mills’ 9-yard touchdown pass to tight end Teagan Quitoriano and Ka’imi Fairbairn’s 33-yard field goal. Both scores capped 74-yard drives.

Mills exited following Fairbairn’s kick early in the second quarter after completing 10 of 13 passes for 102 yards with one TD and a 124.5 passer rating.

Bagent started at quarterback for the Bears and played one series, connecting on 2 of 3 passes for 16 yards and a 79.9 passer rating.