Marinelli respects Stanton's dual-threat skills

Bears defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli was the Lions' head coach in 2007, when they drafted quarterback Drew Stanton in the first round out of Michigan State.

Stanton will make his second NFL start Sunday, only because No. 1 quarterback Matthew Stafford is still recovering from a shoulder separation, and No. 2 quarterback Shaun Hill suffered a fractured finger on his right hand Thanksgiving Day. But Marinelli says Stanton has some dangerous skills.

“He's a great competitor,” Marinelli said. “You treat him a little bit like No. 7 (Michael Vick) at Philly in terms of he can run, and once he gets out of the pocket his accuracy rate goes up. I've been very impressed because he's really developing as a pocket passer. You watch the New York Giants game (when Stanton played the second half), and he did a nice job, and we know what he can with his legs. He can extend plays.

“He's going to do whatever it takes to win, (whether) it's running or throwing, that's who he is. We're bracing for a tremendous game from him.”

Gut check time:

Brian Urlacher was confident in training camp that the defense could be an elite group this year. But back-to-back home losses to the Seahawks and Redskins heading into the Week 8 bye put the brakes on any momentum that had accumulated during a 4-1 start.

“That was frustrating,” Urlacher recalled. “You do start to question a little bit what happened. But then the bye week came, and we rested, kind of got away from football. It was just frustrating to lose those games the way we lost them. Especially at home, you don't want to lose games to NFC opponents.

“But we re-established ourselves after the bye week and got back to work. The one thing this team does is work. We go out there every day, we put our time in and do a good job on the field.”

Making adjustments:

The Bears are undefeated since their bye the final weekend in October.

“I don't know if it was necessarily one thing you can put your hand on,” tight end Greg Olsen said. “For the most part, we identified who we are and what we're capable of doing, playing to our strengths.”

Two things stand out. After averaging 22 running plays per game before the bye, the Bears have averaged 34 per game since. And, after allowing 4.4 sacks per game before the bye, the Bears have reduced that to 2.5.

Psyche job:

There's nothing like a lack of respect, whether it's real or perceived, to motivate a football team.

“We play on that pretty well,” linebacker Brian Urlacher said. “We've done a good job of it. Coach (Lovie) Smith hypes it up pretty good, and we kind of thrive on that. But other than that, if you can't get ready for a game at this point in the season, or even the beginning of the season, something's wrong with you; you shouldn't be playing football. Now they mean a lot, unless you're 2-9 or something.”