Bears head coach Lovie Smith

Opening Statement:: “There are a lot of statistics that…well, there are some that mean something in the game, but the one that means the most is that turnover ratio. I think we’re plus four today and you need it. We needed all of those. Defensively taking the ball away; I mean that’s what we’ve been doing all year is taking the football away. With the game on the line you wanted to put it back on the defense to do it again and they were able to do that. Just an outstanding job – we’re really trying not only to take the ball away, but we were within reach of the touchdown record. Defensive touchdown record for a season and came up a little bit short on that, but the defense played hard right up until the end where a lot of things happened. Bad penalties here and there, we let them hold momentum for stretches, there they got a touchdown on two consecutive drives, but in the end when we needed to make a play we were able to do that. On the other side of the football, with those takeaways, you want to get points on the board but you need to get touchdowns. We weren’t happy about getting field goals but every point matters right up until the end. (WR) Earl Bennett, over 100 yards, you know good football player. That play wasn’t necessarily designed to go the distance, but a great block by (WR) Brandon Marshall allowed him to do that. (RB) Matt Forte rushing over 100 yards coming off an ankle injury, of course that was big too, and put us in position on offense at the end where we needed to run out the clock. Big play with (QB) Jay (Cutler) of course with his feet, you know getting the first and able to run the clock out from there. Special team wise, of course the takeaway that we got off of it led to points also. We had one injury, Matt Spade, went out of the game with a concussion. Besides that we did what we needed to do, what we had to do. We realized going into the game that it was out of our hands as far what happened after our game, but we just needed to take care of what we could control and that was winning the game. Detroit played well, played hard, but we feel good about being at 10-6, and hopefully we get in.”
On Bennett’s touchdown:: “It was huge and we went to (WR) Alshon Jeffery quite a bit too. We needed someone else of course besides just Brandon. But you needed someone to really step up and Earl did. You know he’s been steady for us for a lot of years around here and it’s good to see him play that way today.”
On Marshall’s game today:: “I thought it was okay. He made some plays and had opportunities to make a few more he would say. I’m going to even go to that big block – his biggest play might have been the block on Earl’s touchdown. Brandon Marshall plays the same way really all year. We know what we’re going to get from him each time he goes out on the field.”
On the defensive job on WR Calvin Johnson:: “It’s hard to shut down Calvin Johnson completely. We wanted to get a lot of people on him. Roll the coverage up; double team him as often as we could. So we did a pretty good job of not letting him get the big one. Wanting him to earn it underneath as much as anything and we were able to do that for the most part.”

Bears QB Jay Cutler

On settling for field goals:: “Yeah, I think we had 16 off the turnovers or something? It’s disappointing. I know it’s frustrating for the defense to set us up like that and not being able to convert touchdowns. Got the job done, just wish it would have been a little bit easier.”
On how the team dealt with the pressure of the game:: “I think this is a veteran team. We stay focused all week, didn’t really let the distractions outside mess up our focus. Came out, didn’t play the best ball that we could possibly play but got the win and that’s the most important part.”
On how important it was for receivers other than Brandon Marshall to step up:: “It was good. It was good to see. Brandon, he’s a little banged up. It’s been a long season for him, lot of catches, lot of opportunities. You could see how I was trying to get that one early, kind of get him going. Earl (Bennett) came back and had that nice run and then big conversion on the sideline. So, getting those guys going, I thought the offensive line blocked well. Matt Forte ran the ball hard. Kahlil (Bell) came in, spelled him a little bit, ran the ball well. Some good things to take away from that game. Obviously red zone is something we need to improve on though.”
On his scramble on 3rd and three in the fourth quarter:: “Yeah, it was a two-man route. They covered it up well, they played man. I thought Evan (Rodriguez) might sneak out of there. Linebacker got over the top, covered him up well. Had (Marshall) on a cross, kind of looked back at him, they had him covered. I had a nice crease back side, the guys blocked it well and whatever it takes to get a first down at that point.”
On what was going through his mind when the Lions brought it to a two point game:: “I wasn’t worried . We’d moved the ball well on their defense all game. Twenty to twenty, we got it out of some deep holes in our own end zone. I knew we would move the ball well it was just a matter of us putting together some drives, not killing ourselves and if we got it in the red zone, converting. Didn’t necessarily happen like that but we picked up a few first downs when we had to have them and got a win.”

Bears RB Matt Forte

On how hard the next few hours are waiting to see if they make the playoffs:: “Everybody’s afraid of the unknown so it’s just aggravating to have to wait to see what has to go down. We took care of our part so that’s all we can bank on right now.”
On if there is any pride in winning two must-win games:: “Of course. It would have been bad if we didn’t win the last two. That’s what we were banking on. Coach Lovie said we had to go on a six-game road winning streak and we took care of two so we’ve got to hopefully get into the playoffs and continue.”
On his ankle:: “It’s still sore but the whole first half and most of the third quarter I never got hit on it, so I was fortunate enough to be healthy out there. It gets tweaked in the pile a little bit sometimes but you may see me come out for a play or two and get back in.”
On if they have faith that they can beat anybody if they make the playoffs:: “Yeah, we have to play good football though. We can’t do some of the stuff that we’ve been doing the last half of the season with turnovers and the penalties. And also when you get turnovers from the defense and you get in the red zone we can’t take ourselves out of field goal range or kick too many field goals. We’ve got to score touchdowns.”

Bears DT Henry Melton

On the win over the Lions:: “Obviously, it was a huge win. We really needed that to keep our playoff hopes alive. Hopefully, we’ll get in there.”
On if he will be watching the Packers-Vikings game:: “Yeah, you know, we’re gonna have it on here. We’re gonna have it on the plane. Hopefully, Green Bay can pull one out for us.”
On how he felt after missing the last two games:: “It felt good, you know, to be running around there with my teammates after missing a couple weeks. It was fun. I wish we would have played a little bit better on defense. We still got our takeaways, but we let some points slip away there.”
On if he had any interaction with Lions C Dominic Raiola:: “I don’t think we said anything to each other. We had a couple stare downs. That was about it.”
On if this game was more physical than the previous meeting:: “No, not really. You know, we really just couldn’t get involved in all that. We were on a mission to win the game and we can’t be worried about silly stuff.”

Bears LB Lance Briggs

On how important the win over the Lions is:

“It’s important, you know? It’s important to give ourselves a chance. We need a little help to get in, but it’s important to get this win. Without this win, there is no opportunity.”On the ups and downs of this game:

“That’s football. In football you’re going to have a lot of peaks and valleys. You know, it’s emotional. Momentum’s going to go this way, it’s going to go that way, but it’s important for when it gets down to crunch time to make the plays that you need in order to win.”On his feelings about the uncertain playoff picture:

“Confident. You know, I’m confident. It’s out of our hands. We’ve done what we need to do in these last few weeks and now we’ll go from there.”On the Bears secondary containing Lions WR Calvin Johnson:

“They’re all-stars for a reason. You know, those guys go out every week. Peanut (Charles Tillman) and Tim (Jennings), they’re the best in the business.”On if he thought he let up on late hit penalty on Lions QB Matthew Stafford:

“I thought I did. I thought I did. You know, I understand you want to protect quarterbacks and stuff. You know, it was a third down, a critical situation where he’s trying to get a first down, I’m trying to stop him from a first down. He was still running, he went down right as I started to lunge at him. You know, I have no problem flying over the top, which I thought I did. But the referee didn’t see it that way.”