Notes on the Bears’ 48-24 victory at Solider Field yesterday afternoon.

Rod’s revenge.

The offense and special teams shined yesterday (more on each later), but how about that defensive line? Consider this: they recorded an interception (Tommie Harris), a fumble recovery ( Adewale Ogunleye) and tallied five sacks. Ogunleye now has 4 1/2 sacks, which leads the NFL. Somebody’s going after a contract! The second half is where the line really shined: Stafford was consistently rushed and bothered before he was knocked out with an injury. It helped hold the Lions to only three points in the second half.

You’re special.

With Jay Cutler, this team doesn’t desperately need great field position on each possession. But it certainly doesn’t hurt. The Bears’ return game was terrific yesterday, (or maybe it was Detroit doing a woeful job on kick/punt coverage) topped off by Johnny Knox’s 102-yard kickoff return to start the second half, which really set the tone for the Bears’ dominant third and fourth quarters. Earl Bennett also did a nice job filling in for an injured Devin Hester on punts.The offense’s average starting field position? The Lions’ 46. That’s how you score 48 points.

Never would have done that with Orton.

Cutler’s passing numbers don’t stand out, (18-28, 141 yds, 2 TDs) but when you are starting drives inside enemy territory and Matt Forte is running well, you don’t need to air it out. Cutler was much more game manager than gunslinger yesterday. Yet, his quarterback rating of 100.3 marks three straight games over 100, which is the first time a Bears quarterback has done that since Jack Concannon in 1970. Even though Cutler wasn’t gunning the ball around yesterday, there was one situation that marks just how different Ron Turner is running this offense under a new quarterback. With time winding down in the first half and the score tied, the Bears were actively pushing the ball up field, in the hopes of either netting a field goal or touchdown. Out of field-goal range and with time expiring, Cutler threw a Hail Mary into the end zone, which was knocked down by Detroit. With Kyle Orton behind center, Turner has him take a knee, glad the Bears are tied heading into half.

Oh, and that TD run, complete with the acrobatic dive into the end zone? A thing of beauty.

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When Kyle Orton was injured during the second quarter of Sunday night’s Broncos-Bears game, it was hard to tell what happened. Sure, Orton was bleeding from his right index finger, but how was this possible? After all, it was just Adewale Ogunleye’s left hand colliding with Orton’s right. Did Ogunleye have a long fingernail hiding under his glove? Did he have a knife in there?

Or was it just some freak accident? Turns out that’s pretty much what it was. Per the Denver Post, Orton has an “open dislocation” of the finger. Which means the bone popped out of his skin, causing the bleeding. Gross, bro.

NFL sources said that while Kyle Orton’s injured finger was not fractured, the Broncos quarterback suffered an open dislocation (meaning it penetrated the skin) of the right knuckle.

That would explain the blood dripping from Orton’s finger and the excruciating pain the quarterback endured as the dislocation was popped back into place by trainer Steve “Greek’’ Antonopulos.

Since it’s not a fracture, Orton has yet to be ruled out of the season opener Sept. 13 at Cincinnati, though he won’t be playing in Denver’s final preseason game Thursday. The main problem right now is the stitches that were required to sew up the skin.

This concludes Dr. Ryan hour. Stay tuned next time when we discuss the wacky, wild world of sports hernias.

A veteran of the Chicago beat reporting scene, David Schuster regularly writes about the sights and sounds of Chicago sports from the press box and locker room for MOUTHPIECE Blog.

I thought it might have been my own suspicions.

That is until I checked with other veteran reporters who concurred that there’s an almost shutdown aura going on at Halas Hall. We’ve always known that Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith would rather face torture then disseminate pertinent information, but that attitude has now filtered down to the players.

Nary a few will speak their minds. The exceptions to this are Tommie Harris and Adewale Ogunleye. Harris recently criticized the organization for releasing wide receiver Mark Bradley and is always a colorful, thoughtful quote.  But the rest of the players seemingly have gone into a shell. Maybe it’s because they have lost two games in a row. But it also could be that Big Brother is looking over their shoulders. Big Brother being the organization higher ups who have their spies in the locker room.

Bland or stock answers seem to follow most of the questions by reporters and (for now) few players dare question or challenge anything. Even the retorts to basic questions about the next opponent border on the boring side.

There’s a phrase from an old song that says “paranoia runs deep.” It looks like it might be true with these Bears.

Not sure if you noticed or not, but last night, in front of a national audience, the Bears managed to not only not suck, but they won. This really happened. It’s still sort of unbelievable. Because of that unexpected success — and the unfortunate prospect, given the circumstances, that it might not happen again for a little while – the Bears are in full-on celebratory mode . And I love it:

INDIANAPOLIS - Adewale Ogunleye glared at a reporter, then shouted, “Y’all didn’t give us a chance,” as he entered the locker room Sunday. He made his point loud and clear, particularly on the field. “Today you could see how confused Peyton was,” Ogunleye said. “He didn’t know what the hell was going on.”

Suck on that, haters! Sure, I was one of them, but that’s what’s so great about football — now I can pretend I believed the Bears would shock the world from day one! None of you guys gave us a chance, but I believed, man! I believed!

Of course, it took a Colts offense that had yet to play a single snap with their Hall of Fame quarterback and a Colts defense that refused, no matter what the down or situation, to keep their defensive ends from over-rushing up the field, but I will take it. I’m sure the Bears will, too.