Bennett: Bears are NFL's best

Maybe Earl Bennett was a little too giddy over his first 2-touchdown performance in the NFL.

Maybe the third-year wide receiver was still juiced about getting to run one play out of the Wildcat formation — allowing him to relive his years as an option-oriented high school quarterback.

Or maybe Bennett simply was stating facts when he spoke 20 minutes after the Bears finished off Philadelphia 31-26 Sunday at Soldier Field.

“Everybody in this locker room knows that we're the best team in the NFL,” Bennett said. “We just want to go out each Sunday and prove it.”

Whoa, young fella. Back away from that specially roasted Thanksgiving turkey.

Jay Cutler posts the most efficient effort of his career against an Eagles defense without its starting cornerbacks and the Bears suddenly are the Super Bowl team to beat?

“We are Monsters of the Midway and we are going to continue to fight and win each game,” Bennett said.

That seems like a possibility if the offense can replicate Sunday's performance.

More than any game of the Cutler-Mike Martz era, the Bears used every weapon in their arsenal and always seemingly at the right time.

Pick a drive, almost any drive.

On Cutler's first of 4 touchdown passes, he gunned a 10-yard shot to Bennett that needed to be behind him and below the knees or the Eagles had an interception.

“(The window) was very small,” said Bennett, who played with Cutler at Vanderbilt. “It kind of took me back to college a little bit.”

On the Bears' second drive, they anticipated a safety blitz, and Cutler's quick flip to Devin Hester on a screen pass earned 39 yards to set up another TD pass.

“Coach Martz calling the perfect play,” said veteran center Olin Kreutz. “It was the perfect call at the perfect time. Coach Martz did a nice job today of putting us in positions to succeed.”

On the Bears' two-minute march to a touchdown late in the first half, Hester's speed cleared out a zone to allow Cutler to hit Johnny Knox with a quick pass that became a 14-yard gain and set up Bennett's second score.

And on the Bears' 10-minute drive in the third quarter, after Matt Forte and Chester Taylor carried most of the load, Martz took advantage by lining up Brandon Manumaleuna at fullback in the red zone and sending him out for an uncovered 6-yard pass.

It was as if the Bears were one step ahead all afternoon.

“They played better than we did,” said Eagles coach Andy Reid, “and they coached better than we did in all phases.”