Bears Blitz

Published by Gene Chamberlain on October 4, 2009
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

The Bears could call it a special victory Sunday, even if defeat and Detroit have become synonyms in recent years.

Everyone from the special teams, to the defense, to quarterback Jay Cutler, to running back Matt Forte and even the coaching staff had big parts in a 48-24 victory at Soldier Field over the Lions.

“To get to 3-1 takes a lot, especially after starting out with a loss,” coach Lovie Smith said. “Guys did a super job.

“We know how to finish a game, but need to start stronger and faster.”

The Bears finished by outscoring Detroit in the second half 27-3 after struggling to a 21-all halftime tie. The Bears played better in the second half of all four games this year, but Sunday it took a special teams play to pave the way for the strong finish.

Johnny Knox took the second half kickoff back 102 yards for a touchdown on a day when special teams ruled.

“We’ve won a lot of games with our special teams and today that was definitely the case,” Smith said.

Besides the kickoff return — second longest in Bears history behind Gale Sayers’ 103-yard return in 1967 — Devin Hester returned a punt 24 yards, Earl Bennett returned punts 25 and 21 yards, Robbie Gould kicked a  personal best 52-yard third-quarter field goal and Brad Maynard dumped all four of his punts inside the 20-yard line.

The end result: the Bears’ average starting point for their 13 drives was their 46-yard line. The Lions’ average starting point for their 13 possessions was their own 13.

“We had short fields, a lot of short fields from the defense,” said quarterback Jay Cutler, who had to throw for only 141 yards in a 48-point game. “They kept pinning them down there.”

The special teams or defensive play which resulted in the best field position was the TD return by Knox, who went out with a shin injury that didn’t appear serious after the game. Coordinator Dave Toub got a great deal of credit from players for the call, which was an attempt to take advantage of the way Detroit overpursued to cover kickoffs.

“It’s a designed bounce or naked, however you want to call it,” Toub said. “Everyone is blocking left and then he bounces it out naked to the backside.

“We saw that they were overpursuing. We ran left, left, left in the first half and then we came out in the second half with the left and bounced it to the right.”

Another reason the Bears called this a special win was the defensive linemen delivered in the second half to deliver their new mentor, former Lions coach Rod Marinelli, a victory over his old team.

They came up with a season-high five sacks, including 2 ½ by Adewale Ogunleye who recovered a Matt Stafford fumble caused by Israel Idonije. Defensive tackle Tommie Harris made his first career interception to set up a TD.

Afterward they gave Marinelli a game ball.

“My career has been up and down, up and down,” Ogunleye said. “I think I’ve finally got a (coach) who has helped me forget about each play. Even after the sacks I don’t think about it and try to get another one. I just play for the now.

“I credit coach Marinelli. He’s helping the whole defensive line.”

Marinelli wasn’t the only coach getting credit from defenders. Smith made a halftime adjustment after Stafford hooked up with 6-foot-5 Calvin Johnson five times for 119 yards in the first half.

“We came in  (at halftime) and coach Smith made an audible,” cornerback Charles Tillman said. “He told me I would follow Calvin. That was it.”

Tillman no longer was the left cornerback, but the Calvin Johnson cornerback. All over the field he watched Johnson, who made only three more catches for 14 yards.

The Lions offense vanished.

The Bears own offense moved along at an unsteady but effective pace as they were outgained 398 yards to 276.

“Offensively we didn’t really get into a rhythm,” Cutler said. “It was tough. To score 48 points and have that few yards, your defense and special teams have to do a great job, which they did today.”

The Bears’ offense did chip in with two more goal line TD passes by Cutler to tight ends, one each to Kellen Davis and Greg Olsen, and the running game came to life for the first time as Matt Forte broke a 61-yard first-quarter run en route to a season-high 121 yards on 12 carries. He also had a 37-yard second-half TD run.

“The offensive line did an excellent job pushing them off the ball, and when you get movement off the ball, that just gives me time to make a move or to read, use my vision to see what’s going on in the play,” Forte said.

The injury to Knox, a shoulder injury suffered by Hester in the first half, a knee injury by running back Adrian Peterson and a shoulder injury to cornerback Zack Bowman clouded the future beyond the bye week. The severity of each will be known later in the week.

“(Winning) makes the bye more enjoyable,” Olsen said. “You kind of get your bodies healthy and get ready for the long haul for the rest of the season.”

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