Bears' defense applies the pressure, and it pays off

The Bears' 5 sacks in Sunday's 21-13 victory over Tampa Bay were a season high and included the first 2-sack game of nose tackle Stephen Paea's four-year career.

"Every week we have to hit the quarterback," Paea said. "That's what we did in the first quarter, the second quarter, and it paid off in the second half."

Paea has 6 sacks this season, matching the combined output in his first three seasons.

"His effort level was good," coach Marc Trestman said of Paea. "He created some havoc inside, amid the other guys. But it's really the four, five, six guys working together in the pass rush.

"We got better at it (Sunday). We're moving forward, and I think that was a big part of creating those turnovers was just the pressure we put on Josh (McCown)."

Defensive tackle Jeremiah Ratliff's sack gives him 4½ for the season, his highest total since he had 6 with the Dallas Cowboys in 2009. Second-year tackle Cornelius Washington's sack was the first of his career, and defensive end David Bass got his first of the season and second of his two-year career.

Bass said the constant pressure eventually got to McCown, who threw for 340 yards but was intercepted twice and finished with a 64.7 passer rating, completing 25 of 48 passes.

"It was a team effort, pass rush and coverage working together like coach (defensive coordinator Mel Tucker) always says," Bass said. "If they do a good job on the back end, it allows us time to get to the quarterback.

"When we hit him, he kind of gets shaken up a little bit. Then he's not so much worried about (finding) the receivers as getting hit."

Just another game:

Safety Ryan Mundy said players tried to treat Sunday's game as just another on the schedule and not about a Marc Trestman-Lovie Smith matchup.

"All the talk throughout the week of Lovie vs. coach Trestman, we didn't make it about that, we made it about playing our next game and trying to get a win," Mundy said. "I think that really helped control our perspective and our preparation throughout the week."

Running back Matt Forte, who played under Smith for five years, said it was a bit strange.

"I saw him after the game," Forte said. "It was weird seeing him over there coming across after the game. I got so used to seeing him on our side."

Forte said he and Smith had time for just some brief pleasantries.

"He just said, 'Good job out there, good game, love you man," Forte said. "Just kind of like that."

Getting defensive:

The Bears' defense held an opponent to 13 points for the second straight week after giving up more than 50 in the previous two games. And it was truly a team effort, with contributions from all over.

"Everybody's stepping up," said safety Ryan Mundy, who got his third interception to tie for the team lead with Kyle Fuller and Chris Conte, who also got his third pick.

"We had a lot of participation on defense, and that really speaks to our depth and the confidence that coaches have in the players that we have in our room.

"Moving forward, we're going to need all hands on deck, and I think that we had that (Sunday)."

Can't get going:

The Bears' 27 first-half offensive plays netted 68 yards, an average of 2.5 yards per snap. They have not scored a point in the first quarter since Oct. 5 and have been outscored in the first half this season 199-103.

"We had some penalties (3 for 25 yards)," said quarterback Jay Cutler, who lost a fumble for his NFL-high 18th turnover. "We had some drops (Marquess Wilson, Martellus Bennett and Matt Forte), missed some throws. Put all those things together, you aren't going to perform very well.

"It's hard to get into a rhythm playing like that. It's happened a few times to us, It's unacceptable."

Rookies stepping in:

Linebacker Lance Briggs (groin) and cornerback Kyle Fuller (knee) left near the end of the second quarter and did not return.

Undrafted rookie Christian Jones replaced Briggs and finished with 5 tackles and a fumble recovery.

Undrafted rookie Al Louis-Jean replaced Fuller and helped hold Bucs wide receiver Mike Evans to 3 catches for 47 yards, even though he was targeted 11 times. Evans, who had 209 receiving yards last week, had his three-game streak of 100-yard games snapped.