Forte carries the day for Bears' offense

Jermon Bushrod paused en route to the shower as he approached Matt Forte's locker stall.

"That's a nice shirt," the offensive tackle said with a smile, as Forte pulled a tightfitting, charcoal-colored sweater with black polka dots over his head.

Forte's tackle-breaking, 32-yard run, which was sprinkled with a bit of Sweetness, to end the third quarter?

Twice as nice.

A Bears victory - at Soldier Field?

Thrice as nice.

"It gives fans something to cheer about," the soft-spoken Forte said after the Bears snapped a three-game losing streak and nearly a yearlong drought in their home stadium with a 21-13 win over Minnesota on Sunday.

"I'm glad they came out and were cheering for us and not booing us. It was real important, especially at home, to get a win finally."

The Bears could thank Forte, who maybe has been the most consistently good player for a disappointing offense this season. While the Bears haven't scored more than 28 points in 10 tries in 2014, they can't blame their Pro Bowl running back.

Forte carried the ball a season-high 26 times (18 in the second half) for 117 yards (4.5 average) against the Vikings. It marked his third 100-yard effort of the season. His 6 receptions hiked his season total to 67, 7 shy of the franchise-record total for running backs he posted last year.

And then there was "The Run."

With the Bears leading 14-10 in the final seconds of the third quarter, on second-and-6 from their own 32, Forte got the call. He ran left, veered toward the Minnesota sideline and broke four tackles before finally being pushed out of bounds at the Vikings' 36.

Fans cheered loudly after watching the run, which looked almost vintage Walter Payton. Forte grinned and shrugged when asked about it, refusing to take credit, instead praising tight end Dante Rosario.

"Dante did a good job of isolating the linebacker," Forte said. "Even though he's a tight end, that's not really what he does. He gave it up for the team and played fullback on that play. He made a good block, and the O-line controlled the defensive line and got to the second, third level."

The Bears eventually finished the drive - which covered 72 yards on 16 plays - with Jay Cutler throwing a 4-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Marshall. Twice on the drive, Forte converted on fourth-and-1 (from the Minnesota 27 and 6) by gaining 2 yards.

Early in the third quarter, on fourth-and-goal from the 1, Cutler was denied the end zone on a sweep left.

A desperate team? No, according to coach Marc Trestman.

"We did what we had to do to try to stay on the field and score," he said after his Bears improved to 4-6.

Despite scoring a modest 3 touchdowns, the offense piled up 468 total yards.

"We still have confidence in our ability," Forte said. "We watched some of the film of the games that we won this year and the plays that were made in those games. Coach Trestman was saying to us, 'The same guys that made those plays are still in this locker room. We can still go out there and do this.' "

For the first time this season, the Bears won a game in which Cutler threw an interception. He finished with 2 picks, as well as 3 touchdown passes and 330 passing yards.

"I know a lot of people are going to think, 'Here we go again,' " Bushrod said of Cutler. "But we just had to go and get a 'W.' We had to go out there and find a way.

"Guys never got down. We were confident that we could go down there and score. Our coaches were confident in us. We were just able to go and get it done."

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