HOUSTON — The regular season can’t get here soon enough. The Lions turned in another uninspiring performance Saturday as the preseason hit the halfway mark, losing to the Houston Texans, 30-23 , at NRG Stadium. Matthew Stafford was among a host of Lions regulars who did not play, leaving Josh Johnson and David Fales to quarterback a sputtering offense. The Lions had 13 net yards and no first downs in three first-quarter drives, and scored their 10 first-half points on a 42-yard pass-interference penalty that set up a long Matt Prater field goal, and rookie Will Harris’ 19-yard fumble return for a touchdown. Johnson, who signed a week ago after Tom Savage suffered a brain injury in the Lions’ preseason-opening 31-3 loss to the New England Patriots , started and played into the third quarter in his bid to win the backup job behind Stafford. He completed 9 of 18 passes for 85 yards and was charged with one lost fumble (though it came on a bad snap by backup center Luke Bowanko) and threw one bad interception. Fales played most of the second half, led the Lions on two scoring drives and finished 12 of 19 passing for 226 yards and one touchdown. He was significantly better than he was in his Lions debut last week, when he completed 5 of 14 passes for 62 yards. Savage did not travel with the team to Texas as he remains at home in concussion protocol. Fales’ big fourth quarter aside, the Lions have struggled to sustain drives this preseason as they install first-year coordinator Darrell Bevell’s new offense. They’ve yet to score a point in the first quarter of their two preseason games, and on Saturday fell behind early after their starting defense was shredded by the Texans’ first-team offense. Deshaun Watson completed 5 of 7 passes for 60 yards on his only drive of the night and threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to DeAndre Hopkins. Watson, facing little pressure from a defensive front that did not have Trey Flowers, Damon Harrison, Da’Shawn Hand or Mike Daniels, completed passes of 13, 13, 12 and 18 yards to start the game, and the Texans converted a fourth-and-1 at the 5-yard line when the Lions had 12 men on the field. The Lions have allowed 61 points and 869 yards of offense in their two preseason games, but they did have a few bright spots Saturday. Romeo Okwara had a sack and forced the fumble that Harris returned for a touchdown, and the Lions had two takeaways after finishing 31st in that category in 2018. Backup safety Andrew Adams intercepted a Joe Webb pass late in the second quarter with the Texans threatening for a touchdown. Kerryon Johnson had 16 yards rushing on three carries and running backs Zach Zenner (on a 5-yard reception) and Mark Thompson (on a 1-yard run) scored touchdowns for the Lions, who open the regular season three weeks from Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals . Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com . Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett. Read more on the Detroit Lions and sign up for our Lions newsletter .