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Even at 3-0, Bears say there's room for improvement

Maybe the most encouraging aspect of the Bears' statement-making victory over the Green Bay Packers on Monday night was that the winners weren't really impressed with their performance.

The Bears feel like they can perform a lot better than they did in the 20-17 victory.

"I didn't play very well," Jay Cutler said after completing 16 of 27 passes for 221 yards, 1 TD, 1 pick and a passer rating of 82.5.

"I thought we were out of sync. I missed some throws that I should have made. We needed to make some plays, and we didn't make them. Offensively, we've got to get a lot better. I need to get a lot better."

Bottom line, the Bears made enough plays to remain undefeated, the only NFC team that can say that. And, despite a game he wasn't satisfied with, Cutler owns a 109.7 passer rating through three games, even though he saw his four-game streak of plus-100 passer ratings come to an end.

Cutler praised the Bears' defense for keeping the team in the game as the offense struggled in the early going and failed to score until less than a minute remained in the first half.

But the consensus on the defensive side of the ball is that the defense, too, could have played much better.

"We didn't play good at times, but we played good enough to win," said linebacker Brian Urlacher, whose forced fumble late in the fourth quarter set the Bears up for Robbie Gould's game-winning field goal.

"It was big," Urlacher said of the turnover, which helped make up for allowing the Packers to roll up 379 total yards offense.

"I always say yards don't matter to us. We like to keep them to a minimum, but yards don't really matter; points matter, take-aways and sacks (matter).

"We didn't get any sacks again, but we got take-aways when we needed them."

Monday night was the Bears' second straight game without a sack. They have allowed the Dallas Cowboys' Tony Romo and the Packers' Aaron Rodgers, in back-to-back weeks, to throw a total of 96 passes for 690 yards without being sacked.

"We need to be able to get the quarterback down," coach Lovie Smith said. "But Aaron Rodgers is a good player. It's hard to get him down.

"We kept the ball in front of us for the most part most of the game and came through with a big takeaway at the end, which we needed."

For the second straight week, the Bears did not establish a presence in the run game, following up a 38-yard rushing effort against the Cowboys with a 77-yard total against Green Bay.

And 37 of those yards came on three scrambles by Cutler, who was the game's leading rusher.

"Running-game-wise we didn't do as much as we would like, but some nights the run just doesn't work," Smith said. "You have to rely on the pass, and of course we did that."

Even with all the Bears' imperfections Monday, the sum effort still added up to another victory.

"We didn't play our best game and we won," Cutler said. "That's got to be a good sign."

Chicago Bears punter Brad Maynard and Chicago Bears place-kicker Robbie Gould celebrate after the winning field goal during the Bears Packers Monday night at Soldier Field in Chicago. Steve Lundy | Staff Photographer

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