That would be putting it mildly.

The Bears have sunk to No. 26 in total yards and No. 25 in both average gain per run and pass.

"As you look at what we are as an offense, it's about ball control, running the football," Smith said. "You should be able to do that, and then protecting the ball. We can't have the amount of turnovers we've had lately."

Rookie running back Matt Forte has rushed for 1,188 yards as the focal point of the offense, but his 3.9-yard average per carry is just mediocre, and he's only averaged 3.2 yards per attempt in the past three games. And quarterback Kyle Orton, who threw just four interceptions in the first 11 games this season, has been picked eight times in the past four games.

--Trailing 14-3 at halftime and having been out-gained 221-48 while possessing the ball for just 9 minutes and 53 seconds, the Bears didn't look like a team that even belonged in a discussion about the playoffs, and postseason elimination seemed imminent.

"In the first half we played terrible, especially at home," running back Matt Forte said. "Coach (Lovie) Smith challenged us not to go out like that. It was just time to take care of business."

The Bears' coach said he was disappointed with the lack of production on both sides of the ball but that he didn't have to elaborate on the poor performance.

"I didn't expect it in a game with so much on the line, in a rivalry game against a team that had beaten us so bad the first time around," Smith said. "Luckily, you have a halftime to get a chance to start it over again, and for all of us to get a chance to look at ourselves and think about all we've gone through this year to get ourselves in position. I guess you can take a loss if you do everything you possibly can and play your best game. We knew that wasn't the case. Guys knew exactly how we played."

--The offense has had its two worst outputs in the past two games, managing just 226 total yards against the Saints and 210 against the Packers, even though both games went into overtime and were against mediocre defenses.

"The offense didn't do a lot for most of the (Packers) game," Bears coach Lovie Smith admitted. "But just like the week before, when we needed them to score a touchdown and then follow it up with a field goal in overtime, they came through."

Offensively, the Bears' drought has gone on much longer than the past two weeks, though. Their five least productive games have all come in the past seven weeks, and in all five games the offense failed to accumulate 250 total yards. The NFL average is 325.

Fortunately for the Bears' offense, the Texans, Sunday's opponent, rank 23rd in the league in yards allowed and 27th in points allowed.

BY THE NUMBERS: 436 -- The Bears' combined total offense in their last two games, their least productive games of the season.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "I'm going to look at how we finished the game because, in the end, it's how you finish. We've won three games in a row. We finished strong in all three of those. As long as we continue to finish the way we have, we should be OK." -- Bears coach Lovie Smith, whose team has had to come from behind to tie and then win in overtime its past two games.