Today's focus on Bears' defensive line

Any way you look at it, today's 183rd meeting with the 2-0 Green Bay Packers is a big game, and it will take great performances from the Bears' biggest stars to avoid a repeat of last week's embarrassment in New Orleans, which dropped them to 1-1.

Specifically, the focus will be on the Bears' defensive line, which is supposedly a strength and often the catalyst for the team's success. But that group was conspicuously absent against the Saints, with the exception of defensive end Israel Idonije, who picked up his first sack of the season and was credited with 8 tackles.

The game starts at 3:15 p.m. on local television Fox channel 12, as well as radio stations AM 780 and FM 105.9.

Idonije had more than twice as many tackles as the other three starting defensive linemen combined. Defensive end Julius Peppers and tackle Henry Melton were not credited with a single tackle, and nose tackle Matt Toeaina was credited with 3.

“I just consider it maybe a bad week at the office,” coach Lovie Smith said, “and (we) can't wait to get back to the next week. That's how our guys looked at it. A lot of times you just look and see: D-line, how many sacks? No sacks. Evidently they didn't play well. That's not the case. They played hard last week.”

They may have played hard, but they certainly didn't play well, and the Bears will be hard pressed to defeat anyone this season without a better performance up front.

The success of the entire scheme is based on getting pass-rush pressure from the just the front four, leaving the back seven to devote their attention to coverage.

The Bears did get production from their backup D-linemen, as tackle Amobi Okoye had 3 solo tackles and 4 quarterback pressures, and end Nick Reed had 4 tackles. But the starters need to play at least as well as they have in recent games against the Packers.

Although the Bears have lost four of their last six meetings with the Green Bay, it's difficult to fault the defense, which has not allowed more than 21 points in any of those games.

Even Packers Pro Bowl quarterback Aaron Rodgers, whose career passer rating of 99.5 is the best in NFL history, has struggled against the Bears. In three games against them last season, Rodgers threw just 2 TD passes and 4 interceptions.

In his last eight games, including last season's playoffs, he has a 116.1 passer rating with 19 TD passes and just 3 interceptions. Rodgers has posted a passer rating of more than 100.0 in 27 of his 49 career starts. But he has just one 100-plus rating in seven games against the Bears.

“I think it's because we're patient,” linebacker Brian Urlacher said. “We play a lot of Cover-2 against them, and I think they get a little frustrated. I'm not sure if they do or not, but we think they do, so we keep doing it. We play the run good in our seven-man front, we do Cover-2, and we play really good, solid up front. We play hard, we get a lot of guys to the football, and we create takeaways somehow. He's hard to pick off, but somehow we've gotten a few.”

By playing patiently and staying in Cover-2, the Bears will allow the Packers to complete passes underneath but deny the long ball. By making opponents grind it out, even through the air with short gains, the Bears count on them making a mistake before they get to the end zone. The Packers haven't made many this season while piling up 72 points and 818 yards of total offense.

“It comes down to discipline, and it's about what we do,” linebacker Lance Briggs said. “Defensively we didn't play the way that we need to play (last week) in order to win games. Obviously, you saw the result. So going against the Packers, you really have to be disciplined; really have to play physical.”

There is no secret formula, and the Bears have never disputed that the effectiveness of their defense starts up front.

“It's not like we put a different defense in,” Smith said. “We believe in our defense. We feel like it can match up against any offense. It's always a challenge, though, when you play the Packers, as you look what they've done this year. Forget the past; look what they've done this year. It'll be a big challenge, but our guys are pretty excited about it.

“We have a couple scholarship guys on defense, and they're looking forward to it.”

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Bears vs. Packers

Since he was hired in 2004, Bears coach Lovie Smith is 8-7 against Green Bay. The Packers, however, have won four of the last five games against the Bears. The Bears lead the all-time series 92-84-6. Here's how Smith's teams have fared each year:

9/19/04: Bears 21-10

1/2/05: Packers 31-14 *

12/4/05: Bears 19-7 *

12/25/05: Bears 24-17

9/10/06: Bears 26-0

12/31/06: Packers 26-7 *

10/7/07: Bears 27-20

12/23/07: Bears 35-7 *

11/16/08: Packers 37-3

12/22/08: Bears 20-17 *

9/13/09: Packers 21-15

12/13/09: Packers 21-14 *

9/27/10: Bears 20-17 *

1/2/11: Packers 10-3

1/23/11: Packers 21-14 *

* Denotes home game for Bears