Bears' defense comes alive

The Steelers' offense gouged the Bears for 144 yards on its first two possessions Sunday, but after that the defense allowed just 164 yards the remainder of the game.

"Defensively we didn't hold up our end of the deal right away," said Bears coach Lovie Smith, who is handling the defensive playcalling this season. "But the guys really settled down there a little bit later on."

Charles Tillman's interception at the Bears' 5-yard line thwarted the second Steelers possession after a 52-yard advance. The Steelers cruised through the Bears' defense for 92 yards on their first possession to take a 7-0 lead.

"Maybe (it was) the shock of Brian (Urlacher) not being there," Smith said of the injured linebacker. "Or maybe it's just a good ballclub that put a good drive together to start the game. But the guys settled down and played well. Hunter Hillenmeyer did a great job with all the communication, all the different checks, getting guys in the right position."

Hillenmeyer has replaced Urlacher as the Bears' middle linebacker and the brains of the defense, in charge of the aforementioned tasks.

Early in the game, he appeared a tad manic trying to orchestrate the group.

"That kind of stuff just comes with the territory," Hillenmeyer said. "We were trying to make sure we were in the best defense for what we were trying to do. Our crowd was really loud yesterday, and that's good. But you're trying to communicate a (change) to everybody from the D-line to the corners, who are out on the island, are when you're trying to get it in at the last second, a lot of times it's tough to do."

Keeping it cool: Jay Cutler's improvement from Week One to Week Two had nothing to do with being more in control of his emotions, according to offensive coordinator Ron Turner.

"He was in control last week (in the loss to the Packers)," Turner said. "But last week it wasn't just Jay Cutler. It was all of us. We've all got to do a better job.

"He had a (heck) of a game (Sunday). He made some huge third-down conversions and made some big plays when we needed them. I wouldn't say he was out of control last week. I'm not sure where you're getting that. He maintained his composure and poise. As a result, because he did, the team did throughout (last) week and Sunday."

Good as Gould: Place-kicker Robbie Gould, whose 44-yard field goal was the game-winner Sunday, is 20-for-21 on FG attempts in the final two minutes and overtime in his five-year NFL career.

He's 16-for-16 in the final two minutes and third in career field-goal accuracy in NFL history at 86.3 percent (113 of 131).

Good to go: According to Lovie Smith, Alex Brown's injury late in Sunday's game was a sprained ankle, and he should be ready to play Sunday in Seattle.

Brown had both of the Bears' sacks and 2 other tackles behind the line of scrimmage. He also pressured quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on his only interception.