Bears' defense gets Gore-d
SAN FRANCISCO - Having allowed 397 rushing yards in their last 2 losses, the Bears were determined to contain the Niners' Frank Gore .
But Gore scored the only touchdown of the game, a 14-yard run with just over two minutes left in the first half.
Gore finished with 104 yards on 25 carries, joining the Bengals' Cedric Benson as the only running backs to eclipse 100 yards in a game against the Bears this season.
"(Going) North and South he's the best in the league," Bears defensive end Adewale Ogunleye said. "He gets downhill fast. He's not a guy who's going to get on the edge and do a lot. He's going to get up the 'A' gap and just run, and he's doing that very well. He's the kind of guy that will run through you and run away from you, so we've got to be on top of our games and the safeties have to be in their right gaps."
After a monster game against the Seahawks on Sept. 20 that included TD runs of 79 and 80 yards, Gore suffered right ankle and foot injuries the next week, but he still entered Thursday night's game with 447 yards on 80 carries for a 5.6-yard average.
Tight coverage: Tight end Greg Olsen's 3-TD game last week came despite opponents continuing to focus on taking him out of the attack, according to quarterback Jay Cutler.
"He's been keyed on all year," Cutler said. "That's been a challenge for us to get him the ball because he's been getting jammed at the line a lot, he's been getting a lot of double-teams in the red zone. Teams have known that we want to try to get him the ball. We just were able to find some ways to get him the ball (last week)."
Olsen added 7 more catches and 75 yards through three quarters Thursday night, including 3-for-43 yards in the drive that ended with an interception at the Niners' 1-yard line.
Tough job: The offensive line has come in for a lot of criticism this season, but not from quarterback Jay Cutler.
"Those guys are fighting up there," he said. "I can't fault those guys at all. They're giving everything they've got. We've been in some situations where we've had to put the ball in the air a lot. Whenever you're throwing the ball 40 or 50 times a game it's tough. It's going to be tough on those guys upfront."
Lineup change: With the top two strong safeties inactive because of injuries - starter Al Afalava (shoulder) and Kevin Payne (back) - five-year veteran Josh Bullocks got his first Bears start. Bullocks was inactive the past two games, but he started 49 games the past four seasons with the Saints.
Tight end Desmond Clark suffered a neck injury in the first half and did not return, and cornerback Zack Bowman went out at halftime with an abdominal injury and was replaced by Corey Graham.
Thursday night's other inactives were wide receiver Juaquin Iglesias, running back Garrett Wolfe (back/kidney), linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa (knee), guard Lance Louis and defensive tackles Matt Toeaina and Jarron Gilbert.
Rookie cornerback D.J. Moore was active for the first time this season.