For first time, Bears have reason to crow

The nightmare has come true for Mike Martz.

The Bears are good, the Bears are winning and the Bears are doing it without him.

Well, he's still there, but not really there.

Mike Martz is no longer Mike Martz.

The mad scientist is gone, replaced by an offensive coordinator with a conservative game plan willing to take victories over headlines.

Of course, this wasn't by choice.

This was by order of head coach Lovie Smith, who suddenly awoke to the fact that his quarterback was getting destroyed and his team was losing.

That was during the bye week.

And that's also when a bad Bears team started to become a good Bears team.

The Smith who should have been fired at least a year ago for his apathetic approach to coaching and pathetic approach to calling a game, forced Martz to alter his thinking and prescribe a game that would allow the Bears to win with defense and special teams.

It would allow Jay Cutler to get rid of the ball and remain upright long enough to make easy throws and score easy touchdowns.

For this, Smith should be praised.

And for this, Smith should also be criticized.

For seven games, Smith stood in silence and watched his QB get pummeled, leading to a Cutler concussion and a pair of defeats to Seattle and Washington.

But at least Smith finally reacted in the face of harsh criticism, something he is loath to do.

Without admitting it publicly, he swallowed his pride, listened to advice from line coach Mike Tice, and with a much simpler game plan that uses the running game and gets the ball out of Cutler's hands quickly, the Bears (8-3) have won four straight after defeating the Eagles 31-26 at Soldier Field on Sunday.

And it was the simplest of calls that led to several Bears touchdowns.

They had running plays of 61 and 28 yards. They had short passing plays that went for 39, 34, 30 and 34 yards. That led to short fields, 4 Cutler TD passes, zero interceptions and a 146.2 QB rating.

And while Cutler was great Sunday against a legit NFL defense, the play of the game was made by the Invisible Man, Tommie Harris.

With the Bears ahead 14-13 late in the first half, the Eagles had completely shut down the Bears and were pressuring Cutler to the tune of 3 sacks in four plays, two straight three-and-outs, and minus-21 yards of team offense in the second quarter.

Mike Vick was shredding the Cover-2 and the Eagles were walking down the field with no resistance from the home team.

But on a second-and-4 from the Bears' 14, Harris got in on Vick and tipped a pass that landed softly in the hands of Chris Harris, who ran it out to the Bears' 37.

It was the first Vick pick of the year and instead of trailing at halftime, the Bears marched down the field without making any scary throws and scored to make it 21-13.

That was the game right there.

The Bears came out in the second half and scored the next 10 points, including 3 on an 83-yard drive that chewed up 10:05 of the third quarter.

The drive included 9 running plays and 4 short passes, 3 of which accounted for all 3 third-down conversions.

The Eagles never seriously threatened to make it a game after that, and the Bears had survived the first real test of the season, against a real opponent that had a real chance for a halftime lead before a real good play by Harris and Harris.

“Pleased with where we are, in first place in our division,” said Smith, who delivered his best “I told you so” without uttering the words. “I like where we were before we started, contrary to what most people believe or think.”

Sure, the Bears are really crowing now and for the first time in several years they have a right to do so.

They can talk all they want about how fans and media didn't believe in them and they did a lot of that Sunday night after a victory and if they want to use that as motivation, more power to them.

But they'd be lying if they said they believed in what they were doing as they limped into the bye week, and, of course, they did plenty of that as well.

If they want to pretend and it works for them, fine. But this is a much different team in the last month because Cutler's not playing most of the game flat on his back.

The offensive line is still a huge question, but by getting the ball out of Cutler's hands fast through handoffs or quick strikes, the Bears look like a real football team again and a good one at that.

True, the Eagles had to play Sunday without their best defensive player, Asante Samuel, the Bears got a huge play by a man in Tommie Harris from whom you'd expect absolutely nothing, and the Packers lost because of a goal-line fumble.

But there are some seasons in which everything goes your way, and that's the way this one has shaped up for the Bears, who not only own a four-game winning streak but also the healthiest roster in the NFL.

On Sunday, however, they beat a very good team after playing a smart game and letting their special teams and defensive playmakers make plays.

For the most part they kept Cutler safe and he had little chance to throw the game away while relying heavily on Earl Bennett, who was brilliant.

They're a serious contender now in the NFC and their recipe for winning doesn't have to change from the one they've used the last four weeks.

They just have to keep the dangerous formula out of the hands of the mad scientist.

They do that and there's no telling how far they can go.