Like many teams of the past, the current Chicago Bears know how to win using a punishing defense.
So far this season Chicago has been dominant on the defensive side of the ball and the things were no different on Monday night as the Bears defeated the Detroit Lions 13-7 at home in Soldier Field.
The Bears forced four turnovers and Jay Cutler was accurate when he needed to be as the Bears took first place in the NFC North after winning their fourth straight game. Cutler threw for 150 yards and a touchdown and was able to survive a tough hit by Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh in the second quarter.
"He's a tough guy," Bears coach Lovie Smith said to the Associated Press. "Most people thought Jay would get up. Unless it's a broken leg or something like that, he's going to get up. He is a tough guy. ... That was a gutsy effort by him. He was in some pain, but he fought through it."
Cutler bruised his ribs on the play, but it didn't matter for the Lions; they wouldn't do anything all night against the Chicago defense. The team fumbled three times and didn't put any points on the board until there were 30 seconds left in the game in the fourth quarter.
"That's football," Smith said. "No one's trying to hurt anyone or anything like that. It's a tough, hard-nosed game. He's playing hard, trying to win the game."
The Bears secondary did a fantastic job keeping quarterback Matthew Stafford and wide receiver Calvin Johnson get into a rhythm. Stafford threw for only 261 yards and Johnson had just three catches for 34 yards.
"Calvin is one of the best players in the league," Smith said. "It's hard for Detroit to win games without him being productive. That's why you need a guy like Charles Tillman that can match up on him. It made them go look at other ways to get the ball down field. That's going to lead up to wins most of the time, when we can get that kind of effort out of Charles."
The Bears took an early lead on the first possession of the game on a Brandon Marshall 7-yard touchdown catch and kept the Lions at bay for the rest of the game. Robbie Gould added two field goals from 39 and 21 yards to give Chicago a 13-0 lead by the third quarter.
The Bears didn't need much more on this night. Linebacker Brian Urlacher had a fumble recovery on the goal line that helped cripple the Lions and cornerback D.J. Moore had an interception against Stafford.
"We put Peanut on Calvin and we got after them," safety Major Wright said to the Chicago Tribune. "You always want to initiate the contact. Initiate the physicalness. It started with Calvin and we let them know it was going to be all night."
Chicago threw their hat into the ring for the battle of the best team in the NFC, especially with the way they ran the ball. Running back Matt Forte had great blocking all night and rushed for 96 yards on 22 carries.
The Lions did not look sharp on offense and they will be shorthanded the rest of the year due to the loss of Nate Burleson, who broke his right leg during the game and will now be lost for the season.
After making the playoffs last season, the Lions will have a hard uphill battle to make the playoffs now that they have a 2-4 record. The team sits behind the Bears, Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings in the NFC North and has still yet to win a game within the division.
Detroit has been very sloppy this season with turnovers and has been very unsuccessful on special teams. Against the Bears the Lions had another mental mistake on special teams, with Stefan Logan fumbling a ball on a punt from Adam Podlesh.
Cutler had an injury scare after the hit from Suh, but only missed one snap after going to get his ribs checked out in the locker room. While the hit was hard, the pain came from the fact that Cutler has tucked the football between his ribs and the hard ground of Soldier Field.
"I feel all right, right now," Cutler said afterward. "Later in the week it might feel different, but I feel all right now."
The Bears are in a good spot after winning four games in a row. The team has a home game against the 1-5 Carolina Panthers next week and will play the Tennessee Titans the following game.
The latter stages of the season have tough games against the San Francisco 49ers, Houston Texans and Green Bay Packers, but by then the Bears might have solidified themselves as the top team in the conference.
