Rozner: Bears' offense brilliant, but defense plays big

On a day when the offensive stars came up huge, it was the defense that shined brightest in a game the Bears had to win or call a premature end to 2014.

It makes complete sense, considering almost nothing about this season has made sense.

Following prime-time victories in Northern California and New Jersey, the Bears (3-3) went into another tough building in Atlanta and defeated the Falcons 27-13 on Sunday afternoon, improving to 3-1 on the road this season.

Facing the third-ranked scoring offense in the league at 30 points per game, the Bears never allowed the Falcons to reach the red zone, and the only touchdown came on a third-and-6 screen that went for 41 yards.

Facing an offense that was third in the league, collecting 434 yards a game, the Bears held Atlanta to 287 yards.

Facing one of the best quarterbacks in the league who was converting on third down at a 47 percent clip, the Bears held the Falcons to 4 of 13 on third down (31 percent).

Matt Ryan came in with a 96.4 passer rating, and the Bears held him to 73.1. Ryan came in completing passes at 66 percent, and Sunday he was 19 of 37 (51 percent).

The Bears forced three-and-outs three times and four-and-outs twice.

Most crucial was that after the first two drives of the second half netted 10 points for the home team and tied the score at 13-13, the Bears' defense gave up 37 yards and zero points on four drives the rest of the way.

This was with the Bears missing their four top linebackers and starting Khaseem Greene, Darryl Sharpton and Christian Jones on Sunday.

"They were in the right place all day," said Marc Trestman. "We asked them to just do their job. Nothing more. Our entire defense and coaching staff worked extremely hard and deserves a lot of credit."

Yes, some people are just now waking up to the fact that defensive coordinator Mel Tucker has been doing this all season.

He continues to find ways to get by while losing player after player, and with his best safety, Chris Conte, unable to finish the last four games.

Sharpton, who's been here three weeks, started in the middle and called the plays and was all over the field Sunday, credited with 5 tackles, a pass defense and one solid hit on Ryan.

"It's next man up and when your number's called you have to be ready," said Sharpton, who played the last three years under Bears linebackers coach Reggie Herring in Houston. "The coaches prepared us well and our defensive line pressured them all day and made our jobs a lot easier. I want to give those guys a hug."

Against a banged-up Atlanta offensive line and playing on a fast surface that allowed them to get up field, Willie Young had 2 more sacks, Stephen Paea had 1 and Jared Allen finally got on the board with a sack, while the Bears hit Ryan seven times officially, and at least three more that didn't make the stat sheet.

"We had some good situational advantages, and we took advantage of that," Allen said. "It helps that we weren't playing a quarterback who can run for 100 yards against you. We've seen a lot of that this year."

The Bears' offense will get a lot of attention this week, and deservedly so, after taking advantage of a terrible Falcons defense.

Jay Cutler protected the football and the Bears are 3-0 this year when he throws fewer than 2 interceptions. He threw for 381 yards and had a 109.6 passer rating.

Matt Forte carried the load again with 157 total yards on 17 carries and 10 receptions, while Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery had 11 catches combined for 249 yards. Martellus Bennett had 4 for 52, including 2 first downs and a 2-point conversion.

On the flip side, Bears defensive backs pounded Julio Jones and Roddy White early and often, and though they were targeted 18 times they caught only 7 passes, dropping several and short-arming several more.

The Bears were the more physical team, and it had a devastating effect on the Atlanta offense.

"We were very physical today," said Greene, who led the team with 8 tackles. "From the defensive backs all the way to the defensive line, we wanted to play physical today, and we did."

The Bears, naturally, were far from perfect.

Jordan Mills had 2 false starts and the Bears have as many already this season (9) as they had in all of 2013.

They had an extra point blocked and 2 more special teams holding calls.

Trestman's clock management at the end of the first half was laughable, and the Bears converted in the red zone on just one of their first three trips. They've scored 28 points once through six games after reaching that number seven times last season.

But they did score 14 points in the second half after collecting 13 points total the last three weeks in the second half, and overall this was probably their most complete football game of the year.

So they should handle a 2-3 Miami team next week at home after the Dolphins let Green Bay march down the field and win late in Miami on Sunday.

Of course, the Bears are 0-2 at home this season and this is still the NFL - where the only certainty is the complete and inexplicable uncertainty.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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