Smiles all around on defense
As Chris Harris talked about his game-changing interception, Danieal Manning talked behind his back.
Something about if Harris was fast like Manning, he would have returned his pick 102 yards for a touchdown instead of relying on the offense to handle the final 63 yards for a crucial score before halftime.
Upon hearing this bit of mischief, Harris wheeled and hollered an epithet in his locker-room neighbor's direction as Manning laughed uproariously.
This is how it works when you hold down the NFL's No. 2 offense and the league's hottest offensive player often enough to earn an important 31-26 victory at Soldier Field.
It's backup defensive tackle Marcus Harrison scanning the room and seeing five defensive linemen being interviewed none of them him and mock-grumbling about how he takes on two blockers at a time to allow guys like Julius Peppers to shine.
Peppers, thanks surely to Harrison's heroic efforts, sacked Michael Vick once and forced a fumble. He hurried him once, caught him from behind twice on scrambles and generally spent his afternoon renewing acquaintances more often than Vick might have liked.
During the good ol' years before Vick left Atlanta for prison and Peppers left Charlotte for $20 million to play for the Bears they used to meet twice a year in the NFC South.
“We always had those type of things in the open field, me and him,” Peppers said. “Him running. I'm chasing. It was just like old times. Any time you play against a player like that, it makes you raise your level.”
Every Bears lineman rose to the challenge. Five guys combined for 4 sacks. Six guys, including Harrison, teamed up for 7 hurries. Nose tackle Anthony Adams joined Peppers in the I-Forced-Vick-to-Fumble Club during the game, then joined Peppers in the I-Was-Hassled-By-Harrison Club afterward.
“Cover-2, man,” said Adams, declining to elaborate on the Bears' scheme to slow down Vick.
“You know he's going to make the first guy miss. Don't be that second guy (to miss). We just overlapped each other, played off each other and we were successful most times.”
It's a measure of the Bears' respect for Vick that they came away feeling good about their effort, even though they allowed a season-high 26 points and he became the first quarterback to throw for 2 TDs against them this year.
“You have to try and make him do one thing,” said Bears coach Lovie Smith, “and we wanted to keep him in the pocket and make him become a dropback passer and try to beat us that way.
“We wanted to keep him pinned in, just keep pressure on him and I thought we did that.”