Bears' running game delivers

The Bears had given up a league-worst 31 sacks through eight weeks, but they have allowed just 1 in each of the past two games.

Part of the solution was running the ball 38 times against the Minnesota Vikings and 31 times a week earlier against the Buffalo Bills.

“It's fun to be able to go after some people and run the football,” said Roberto Garza, whose return to right guard two weeks ago after arthroscopic knee surgery helped solidify the line.

“It's just going out there and competing and getting the job done. The past two weeks we've done that, and we've been able to build on that.

“Our running backs did a great job of hitting those holes. And Jay (Cutler) is playing exceptionally well. He's doing a great job of getting rid of the ball, moving in the pocket when we kind of break down a little bit, and he's creating those big plays.”

Streaky day:

Robbie Gould moved past Bob Thomas into third place in franchise history in points with 2 field goals and 3 extra points, giving him a total of 634, trailing only Walter Payton (750) and Kevin Butler (1,116).

But Gould missed his first attempt, wide left from 43 yards, his third straight miss, including a 42-yarder against the Bills a week earlier and a 54-yarder against Seattle on Oct. 17 that was blocked.

Gould is 14-for-18 on the season (77.8 percent). He came into Sunday's game as the NFL's third-most accurate kicker of all time at 85.4 percent.

Gould extended his streak of makes from inside 40 yards to 56 in a row with a 34-yarder 1:48 into the third quarter and stretched the streak to 57 with a 38-yarder later in the third quarter.

Peterson priority:

Having intercepted Brett Favre 18 times in their last 11 games against him, the Bears seemed more focused on containing Adrian Peterson, which they did, allowing him just 51 yards on 17 carries (3.0-yard average).

“You want to take one away, and we were able to play the run fairly well and get them into a passing game,” coach Lovie Smith said. “Once you get a team where they're one-dimensional, it's tough on them to come back.

“That's definitely the plan. One of our signature coverages (Cover 2) we played a lot today.”

Could be worse:

The Bears have a short turnaround this week before a Thursday night game in South Florida against the Miami Dolphins, who lost their top two quarterbacks in a 29-17 victory over Tennessee on Sunday.

“It's very easy after a win, and we get to go down to Miami, so I'm excited,” said nickel back D.J. Moore, who had 1 of the Bears' 3 interceptions. “I like playing football, but I like Miami, too.”