Bears grades

GAME BALL: ISRAEL IDONIJE

The Bears defensive end returned to the Great White North and delivered the play that ruined Buffalo's momentum. When Idonije blocked Rian Lindell's extra point late in the third quarter, he not only protected the Bears' 14-13 lead, he necessitated the Bills' ill-fated 2-point conversion in the fourth. Idonije also earned 3 quarterback hits and shared a sack with Tommie Harris.

Quarterback (3.5 balls)

Jay Cutler exhibited happy feet for no reason on his second pass of the day, but he settled down as he realized the Bills weren't the Giants or the Seahawks or the Redskins. He showed excellent awareness on his scrambles, limited his bad throws and committed just 1 turnover (a fumble on a sack).

Running backs (3 balls)

The Bears ran on their first four plays and they actually gave the guy in the backfield the ball 25 times. That meant 14 carries for Matt Forte (including a nice 22-yarder when he read a nice seam to the left), 10 carries for Chester Taylor (including an easy 1-yard TD blast) and 1 carry for Earl Bennett when he motioned to tailback. Cutler flipped an option pitch to him for a 5-yard gain.

Receivers (3.5 balls)

No drops and several fine catches for this group. It was odd to see Greg Olsen and Bennett run the same post route on the Bears' first TD, but it paid off with a nice Olsen grab. Bennett got his own score for the game-winner. He turned around his man with a good in-out move to the corner.

Offensive Line (3 balls)

Get this: Cutler dropped back 33 times and suffered just 1 sack and 1 other quarterback hit. The line was flagged for three false starts in the second quarter, but played penalty-free in the second half and made holes in the red zone. Apparently a healthier Roberto Garza does make a difference.

Defensive Line (3.5 balls)

Buffalo had nowhere to run against the front seven. Throw out Ryan Fitzpatrick's 7-yard scramble and the Bills rushed 17 times for 39 yards. Julius Peppers went without a sack again, but hit Fitzpatrick on his first attempt to ignite a 4-quarterback hit day. The DTs clogged up the middle and ran solid stunts with the DEs.

Linebackers (4 balls)

Lance Briggs set the tone on the first two plays by stopping Fred Jackson for no gain and then dropping him for a 2-yard loss (with help from Peppers). Briggs and Urlacher each posted 6 solo stops.

Secondary (3 balls)

CB Tim Jennings looked beaten on a stop-and-go, but he recovered to pick off Fitzpatrick's pass and return it 39 yards to set up the Bears' winning touchdown. Jennings also led everyone with 9 tackles. Nickel D.J. Moore and S Chris Harris teamed up for the clinching INT. Peanut Tillman forced and recovered another fumble to set up Taylor's third-quarter TD. The secondary combined for 6 pass breakups.

Special teams (3 balls)

Brad Maynard's punt that was downed at the 1-yard line with 1:04 left capped his strong day. Robbie Gould missed a 42-yard field goal inches wide to the right, which nobody expected in the dome. Gould delivered 3 touchbacks in four kickoffs.

Coaching (3 balls)

Mike Martz promised a better mix of runs and passes and followed through with 33 dropbacks versus 28 rushes (that includes a pair of Cutler kneeldowns). The Bears also scored in the third quarter for the first time. The defensive calls consistently forced Fitzpatrick to be right on the money to get most of his 299 yards.