Smith comes to Turner's defense
Quarterback Rex Grossman said part of the offense's second-half problems Sunday were the result of good defense by the Kansas City Chiefs.
"They did a good job of having the right defense called against what we were doing," Grossman said. "And they got us a couple of times."
But according to coach Lovie Smith, Bears offensive coordinator Ron Turner was not outguessed by Chiefs defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham.
"I wouldn't say that that happened," Smith said. "Since we won the football game, I'd say we probably guessed right the majority of the time.
"When you get a 17-0 lead on a team, sometimes you can relax a little bit and not play as well as you need to, and that's what we did."
Moose alert: Muhsin Muhammad has appeared on the injury report the first two weeks with an ankle problem, and he missed significant practice time in training camp with what coach Lovie Smith called "general soreness."
The 12-year veteran has just 2 catches for 15 yards this season, but Smith says his lack of production isn't related to his ankle.
"He was healthy for the game," Smith said, "so, no, I wouldn't say so."
In each of the previous nine seasons, Muhammad has had at least 50 catches.
Winning the battle: In Week 1, Cedric Benson outrushed league MVP and 2006 NFL rushing champion LaDainian Tomlinson 42-25. He out-gained the Chiefs' Larry Johnson (second in the NFL with 1,689 rushing yards last year) 101-55 in Week 2.
Still, he's not throwing himself any parties because he came out ahead in the individual matchups.
"I'm not really looking at it like that," Benson said. "Those two guys were running up against a great defense. I wouldn't mind seeing what I could get up against our defense. I think that would be pretty fun."
End of discussion: Brian Urlacher's sack Sunday was his first in 23 months, when he had a pair against the Minnesota Vikings on Oct. 16, 2005.
"I've heard a lot about how long it's been since he's gotten a sack," coach Lovie Smith said, "so we can stop talking about that for a while."
On the mend: Coach Lovie Smith expects the Bears to go into Sunday night's game with the Dallas Cowboys in much better shape at punter than they were at the end of the Chiefs game, when place-kicker Robbie Gould was pressed into emergency service.
Starter Brad Maynard (groin) expects to be back. Dirk Johnson, last week's fill-in, also could be available after suffering a bruised quad that prevented him from finishing Sunday's game.
"Brad felt comfortable that he could (have) punted (Sunday)," said Smith, who didn't want him to risk aggravating the injury. "I assume we'll have Brad available just like we'll have Dirk available."