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.

Thank heavens for Mike Brown. If not for Brown, we would have come out of the Bears locker room Sunday with the usual dribble and nonsense.

The Bears played their worst game of the season in getting humiliated up in Green Bay. Afterwards, we were subjected to Lovie Smith’s weekly humdrum. The man’s temperature never changes. No anger, no outward emotion and certainly no raised voice. Not even a mention that the performance was unacceptable. Is it any wonder that the fans are tired of this monotone style?

A few players bemoaned their play but most said that it was only one game and time to move on. What? One game? Hardly. This was another in a season long line of poor defensive efforts. That’s where Brown comes in. Immediately, without prompting, the Bears captain stated that the defense is no longer what it was from the recent past. In fact, he called it one of the worst in the league and deserving of all the criticism it has been getting. He went on to say that the team embarrassed itself and “got destroyed and that’s the bottom line.”

Well here’s the bottom line from a reporter’s standpoint. We appreciate athletes who will bare their thoughts and feelings as opposed to the ones that will hide from the media. Kudos to Mike Brown who takes his captain’s responsibilities seriously.

You did not expect the Kyle Orton Experience to keep rolling along at such a tremendous clip did you? This is the Chicago Bears quarterback position, do not be silly.

As you’ve likely seen/heard, Orton went down at the end of the first half with a high ankle sprain after Dewayne White fell on him. Sources are indicating the injury will keep Orton out about a month. Dang. To the Bears’ credit, they showed some resolve in the second half — although, they were playing the Lions — and came back from a 23-13 deficit to win 27-23. Rex Grossman threw for a touchdown and scored one of his own on a sneak, but his 9-of-19 for 58 yards performance was nothing to high five about.

The good news here? The Bears’ defense was stellar in the second half, allowing no points to the Lions. If the defense can return to their old ways — even without the services of Mike Brown, who was also injured yesterday — and Grossman can be serviceable, the Bears should be OK. But then you look at their schedule and see they’re playing the undefeated Titans next week and head to Green Bay to take on the now NFC North second placers the week after, and things aren’t looking quite so good.

Hurry back, Mr. Orton.

I know what I saw back then. You can’t tell me I didn’t see it. No amount of sensory deprivation or illicit drug use could cloud my memory.

Kyle Orton was terrible at football. Just terrible.

Now, not only is he decidedly not terrible, he’s good. He threw for 283 yards and two touchdowns yesterday, and he should have had at least one more (Desmond Clark’s fumble on the goal line, which Rashied Davis recovered in the end zone). Marty Booker dropped two passes in the end zone too. Orton could have thrown for five touchdowns! Five! In 15 games in 2005, he threw for like nine. He was terrible. And now he’s really kind of better than that.

What’s more, the Bears are now arguably superior on offense to their defense, which allowed 41 points yesterday, the most in franchise history in a win. Probably the most embarrassing defensive play came on Mike Brown’s sad attempt to tackle Adrian Peterson in the secondary on Peterson’s second touchdown run. It was less a fake out and more a complete display of athletic superiority; Brown got utterly embarrassed. Turnovers excepted, the rest of the defense didn’t fare much better.

Still, it was an offensively-oriented win in which Kyle Orton played well, the defense forced a few turnovers, and the special teams made plays. It was far too offensive, actually, but it was a win. Kyle Orton is now, apparently, good at football. These are the truths of our new reality.

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.

Most of the country and football establishment may have been shocked by last night’s Bears victory. But the 53 players as well as the coaches in the locker room showed no surprise at all.

Lovie Smith, Kyle Orton and the rest of the Bears were almost miffed at questions that suggested this was an upset. However, this was an upset. The Colts hadn’t lost in the months of September and October in almost three years and were 10-point favorites.

Brian Urlacher treated our questions the same way he does opposing running backs. He knocked them down repeatedly, saying the media always expects the worst from this team. Charles Tillman had that cat-that-ate-the-canary look on his face and threw in a few “I told you so’s” when he commented the Bears were saving themselves for the real thing and the preseason was just a charade. When asked how he continually strips opposing ball carriers of the ball (like he did again last night) Tillman said, “I don’t know, but I’m going to have to patent it.”

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