Bears learn a lot about themselves

The first few weeks of the regular season is like self-analysis for NFL teams.

They spend days and weeks and months during the off-season participating in organized team activities and minicamp and training camp.

Players learn plays and schemes and entire playbooks and practice them until they think they know them.

Then the season opens and they have to learn the only thing left to learn: who they are as players and what they are as a team.

"You're right," said Bears offensive coordinator Ron Turner on Sunday. "You're still trying to learn about yourselves."

So, what did the Bears learn during their Soldier Field opener?

My goodness, where should we start after this 17-14 victory over the defending champion Pittsburgh Steelers?

Well, let's start with Jay Cutler since everything about the Bears this year starts and ends with their new quarterback.

The Bears learned that Cutler isn't going to throw 4 interceptions every game like he did the week before in a loss at Green Bay.

Cutler taught the Bears that he could not only play turnover-free football but also lead them to victory on the strength of 10 fourth-quarter points.

"I want the ball at the end of every game," Cutler said.

Meanwhile, Cutler learned rookie Johnny Knox is becoming the reliable wide receiver few thought the Bears had.

It isn't just that Knox caught 6 passes against the Steelers. It's that he can use track speed to catch balls deep down the sideline and football toughness to catch balls in traffic over the middle.

"I told him congratulations, you're not a rookie anymore," Cutler said.

Let's see, what else did the Bears learn about themselves?

Oh, yeah, they learned that maybe having head coach Lovie Smith call defensive signals does make a difference.

In typical Cover-2 style, at least when it works, the Bears rarely broke despite bending under the pressure of Ben Roethlisberger's passes to wide receivers running free in the secondary.

"We got our first takeaway," Smith said beaming, "which, of course, is big whenever you can get that."

Speaking of defense, the Bears learned they could win a game against a quality opponent without middle linebacker Brian Urlacher, the face of the franchise for nearly a decade who is out for the season after wrist surgery.

"Brian is a great cheerleader, a great captain, a great teammate, a great Chicago Bear," Smith said.

For the first time in awhile the Bears looked left or right, from sideline and sideline, and didn't see Urlacher on the field with them.

But the Bears won without him. They won without injured outside linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa. The offense won without injured tight end Desmond Clark.

Most of all what the Bears learned about themselves was they can play with the Super Bowl champion Steelers.

"We learned we have character," Turner said. "We have leadership in Olin Kreutz and Jay Cutler. We learned we keep fighting."

The Bears won't graduate from group self-therapy for at least a few more weeks. The next appointment is scheduled for Sunday at Seattle.

But what the Bears learned against the Steelers was an ideal foundation for that session.