Bears Head Coach Lovie Smith

Opening Statement:: “We thought coming into the game it would be this type of football game. You get into your division, and this is a rival of yours and a lot is at stake. You assume that it would be this tight. That’s why it’s so important for us to start fast. Making them start at the 20 to open the game, defense 3-and-out, and then [the] offense getting that seven points. It was that type of football game. Whenever you can end up with a plus-4 in the turnover ratio, and rush the ball up for 170 yards, or whatever we rushed it for, you had a chance. Right up until, they fought hard. They’re a good football team. We had a lot of guys that really stepped up tonight. Charles Tillman, that’s a tough duty playing against one of the best players in the league (Calvin Johnson), matching up with him all night. He did an outstanding job of really holding him to very little. Offensively, we did what we had to do. It was that type of night as I said. Injury-wise, Jay Cutler has bruised ribs. Whenever you don’t finish a half, there is a concern but he was able to come out the second half and at least perform well enough for us to get the win. Beyond that, we are 5-1. That’s the position we want to be in. Monday night is always special when you get a chance to play in it. We have a short week coming up and we will get ready for Carolina.”
On how important it was to get running game going:: “Very important. Especially on a game like tonight. That’s why getting the seven points on the board [was important]. We were able to get our running game going and then relying on our defense like that. When you’re playing defense like that and get a lead, you have to be able to run the football like that and we were able to tonight.”
On how important it was to get more forced fumbles:: “It’s a step in the right direction. You guys have been around here. You can go in and talk to any of our defensive players. They’ll tell you it’s not a good defensive effort unless we are taking the ball away. That’s what leads to wins and you see it time after time. Tonight I think three of those takeaways were down in the red zone. That led to the win.”
On mixing things up more defensively tonight than usual:: “Well, you know we played cover 2 every snap and that’s what I hear most of the time with a cover 2 team - that’s what you always do. We do what we normally do. We mix it up always. We’re going to always lean on cover 2, especially with an offense like this. We did a few things tonight.”
On Cutler’s toughness:: “It’s what he is. It’s just that. He’s a tough guy. 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’s what you should have as your Chicago Bear quarterback and he does it time after time. That’s effort by him. He was in some pain but he fought through it."
On how important it was to shut down Calvin Johnson:: “Not that I know. That’s football. No one is trying to hurt anyone or anything like that out there. It was just a tough hard-nosed game. Suh’s a good football player. He’s playing hard, trying to win a game. I don’t think so.”
On if there will be any more tests done on Cutler’s ribs:: “Of course. That’s just a normal part of our protocol if a player has an injury to monitor it and evaluate it more tomorrow. I say most of our guys will be sore today, but yeah, we will continue to evaluate him. Hopefully he will be ok.”
On if there was any danger on Cutler when he came back in for more damage:: “No. We wouldn’t put a player out there if there was any danger involved to it. No more than just football in general.”
On using a couple of guys in the return game and if it was to give Hester a break:: ”We have good returners, the plan was to. Devin’s workload was going to increase a little bit on the offensive side. We have been wanting to get Eric Weems a few returns. So it was just a base part of our game plan going in.”
On if Forte went out with arm injury and if he is ok:: “You guys know a lot more than I do. Hard fought game. Guys will have bumps and bruises. But I don’t think anyone is hurt seriously where they are going to miss any time.”

Bears Quarterback Jay Cutler

On how he’s feeling with his rib injury:: “I feel alright right now. I think later in the week is going to be a little bit difficult, but I’m alright right now.”
On what it was like playing with a rib injury and if it was harder to play in the second half:: “Yeah, getting to the ball and throwing the ball. It was on my right side, so trying to get my right side through was a little bit tough. I missed some throws. I wasn’t feeling exactly 100 percent but we had to fight through it. The way our defense was playing, we were just trying to drag out the game."
On if they gave him a flak jacket:: “I wear one anyway.”
On if he knew he was in trouble when Suh got a hold of his left arm:: “I thought it was gone and then he got a hold of me. At that point, I knew it wasn’t going to end well.”
On if he took a pain killer:: “We did some stuff back here in the back room.”
On the Bears’ defensive performance:: “Unbelievable. Those guys are playing so well. They’re flying to the ball, stopping the run, making it tough to get to the pass, being tough down there at the goal line. You can’t say enough about the way that they’re playing and coming together and rallying all through the game. It’s hard to hold an offense like that down all through the game, but they did it.”
On how important it was to get the running game started early:: “We started off well. We started off fast. In the second quarter, we got a little stagnant, but we adjusted well. Some penalties shot us in the foot and I missed some throws, so just some things in the second half we’re going to have to clean up. We don’t want to make it that close. We should have had some points on the board in the fourth quarter, but we didn’t have them.”
On the most difficult part of going up against the “wide nine”:: “A lot of team have speed rushers and you can kind of step up, but these guys get a push on the outside and the inside which is what makes them hard to deal with.”
On his reaction to the win, regardless of the score:: “At the end of the day we just want to win a ballgame, so whatever it takes. If the defense is playing like that, offensively we can score a few points. When we get out with a “W,” we’re happy. We just have to keep getting better offensively week by week and just keep trying to win ballgames, not turn the ball over, (convert) on third down, (execute) in the redzone and we’re going to be alright.”
On the touchdown pass to Brandon Marshall, and if it was a result of their familiarity:: “No, it was just a good play call by Mike. The ball got tipped a little bit, but he was still able to get a hold of it. Good play call and a good catch.”
On if he spoke to the Petree family before the game:: “Yeah, we wanted to reach out and bring them to the game. It’s a tough situation. There’s nothing I or anyone can say that can really ease their pain or bring anybody back. Hopefully we were able to let them have an enjoyable time for three or four hours and kind of forget their loss and have a good time and just help them in that way because it’s hard.”

Bears WR Earl Bennett

On Jay Cutler’s toughness:: “He took a tough shot. He’s a competitor. He’s one of those guys that no matter how beat up he is, he wants to get back in there and help us win the game. He was able to get back in there. We didn’t have the production in the passing game that we wanted, but we ran the ball well tonight. It was enough to get a win.”
On getting back on the field and contributing:: “It felt good to get back out there and make plays and help move the ball. We messed ourselves up a few times by penalties and kind of messed up a couple drives, but overall we ran the ball pretty good tonight.”

Bears CB D.J. Moore

On the Bears ability to force turnovers:: “We practice it every day. We’ve got someone like Peanut [Charles Tillman] who does it time and time again, it gets contagious. Then you have Lance [Briggs] and [Brian] Urlacher and all those guys doing it in practice, practicing stripping and getting takeaways. It’s just contagious.”

Bears WR Brandon Marshall

On Jay Cutler’s toughness:: “It definitely scared us when he went down. He’s tough. I was fortunate enough to get drafted with him in 2006. Being around him, that’s what I see on a daily basis, how tough he is.”
On how the Bear’s defensive performance: “We expected this kind of game, a divisional game. We expected it to be a little chippy. It started to get that way in the second half. It wasn’t going to be easy for us. We definitely got the game we expected. It makes it easier for us when we have a defense like that. We’re still trying to find our way on offense. There’s some chemistry missing there, but you’ve got to expect that in a first-year offense. Matt [Forte] got us going tonight. Jay [Cutler] definitely gave us an emotional lift with his toughness. We’re excited about where we’re at.”

Bears LB Brian Urlacher

On how the defense played:: “Same thing we’ve been doing all year. We played discipline, got some take-aways, like we always do. They did gash us in the running game a little bit in the first half, a little bit in the third quarter. We made some plays, gave up that cheap touchdown there at the end. We still got the win.”
On Charles Tillman’s play against Calvin Johnson:: “I don’t know how he does it. I mean Calvin Johnson is a big, big time receiver. Peanut is a big-time corner. I don’t know how he does it, but I’m glad he does. Glad he plays for us.”
On the defense trying to strip the ball out:: “It’s like that every game. They just came out today. No more emphasis than normal. We just got them today.”
On what it was like when Jay Cutler got hurt:: “Stressful. He’s tough, man. I don’t know what happened to him or what he did. It looked like he was in pain. We all held our breath a little bit until he came back out there. I’m glad he’s okay and he finished the game.”
On whether the defense continues to improve:: “We are. We rotate a bunch of guys up front, which is keeping us fresh. We haven’t played a lot. The good thing is our offense is running the football, keeping us on the sideline. I think the first quarter we played only 10 or 11 snaps, which is good. Keeps up fresh in the fourth quarter. We make plays when we have to. I think we got three take-aways in the red zone today. That’s big. Big swings right there.”
On not keeping the shut-out:: “They’re a good football team. Calvin Johnson, you’ve got to scheme for him. He’s got two guys on him every time. Peanut underneath and someone over the top. That one at the end was frustrating. We still got the on-side and finished the game like we wanted to.”
On whether the current rules keep defense’s from dominating:: “The thing that we do, that I’m not sure most defenses do, we run to the football. If you watch oou defense we’ve got 11 guys running to the football every play. That’s the biggest emphasis our coaches emphasize. You watch defenses around the league, it’s not like that. Around here, it’s the culture, you run to the football or you’re not going to play. You see our d-linemen turn and run when the ball is thrown.”

Bears DE Julius Peppers

On striping the ball and generating take-aways:: “We stress it in practice every day. We practice it, so when we get on the field it’s natural for us. We do it all day, every day. When we get out there it happens.”
On whether this is the league’s best defense:: “That for you guys [media] to talk about. We’re going to enjoy this tonight, take a rest and come back and get ready for Carolina. We’re not concerned with stats and who’s the best, this and that. We’re just trying to get better each and every week.”
On what makes the defense special:: “We have a close group of guys. We all love each other. It makes you play harder for the guy next to you when you genuinely care for him. And you know, we’re coached really well. All those things combined, I think it shows in the results on the field.”
On winning a division game:: “We have to keep winning. We have to keep winning games, regardless of division games, whoever we play. We need the most wins at the end of the year to put ourselves in the best position possible.”
On what he was most pleased with defensively:: “Everything. There was not one thing I could put my finger on or point out that we did well. Overall I thought the effort was pretty good. We just have to keep it up.”
On losing the shut-out late:: “We were hoping to get it. We didn’t, so we’ll try to get it next week.”