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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A refresher: up 12-10 with 12:39 left in the fourth quarter in Sunday’s loss to the Packers, the Bears faced a fourth-and-11 on their own 26-yard line. Time to punt. But something really weird happened: long snapper  Patrick Mannelly hiked the ball to Garrett Wolfe who was playing upback, he ran a few years and was thwarted. WHY OH WHY DID THEY DO THIS?

Chris Collinsworth alluded to it, and it was later confirmed: Mannelly saw 12 men on the field, so he snapped to Wolfe. It was a designed play to draw a penalty. OK, makes sense. Problem is, the 12th man had scampered off the field, and no penalty was called. Whoops! The Packers were then blessed with excellent field position, and they got a field goal out of it. (The Bears are still keeping this play in the playbook, by the way.)

Anyway, I bring this up because Drew wrote this today:

Regarding the Bears, Collinsworth somewhat absolved Lovie Smith for the fake punt play in the Packers game, pinning the blame on the Bears long snapper (Patrick Mannelly) for seeing the 12th man on the defense and quickly snapping it to the upback. But here’s what makes no sense to me. If the snapper is coached to hike the ball when he sees 12 men on the defense in order to get the penalty, why does he have to snap it to the upback? If he’s just trying to draw the flag, who gives a s–t who he hikes it to? Shouldn’t he be coached to snap it to the PUNTER in case something goes awry, like if it turns out there AREN’T 12 defenders on the field? That way, you can punt the ball and not be, you know, F—-D. I know Mannelly made a stupid play. But someone coached him to make that stupid play.

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