Bears’ Jennings grabs top defensive honors

After grabbing 4 interceptions and breaking up six passes in the first 3 games, there was one more thing left for Bears quarterback Tim Jennings to grab — NFC Defensive Player of the Month honors.

For the month of September, Jennings also assisted in two tipped balls that were picked off by other Bears defenders, which led to him earning the conference’s top defensive honors Thursday.

In Monday night’s convincing win over Dallas, Jennings deflected another ball that was intercepted by safety Major Wright, who finished the game with two picks.

“I look at it like it should have been 7 picks (for the season),” Jennings said, laughing.

“I was in good position, but I wasn’t able to get both hands on the ball, so I just wanted to deflect it. Good thing Major was in the right position to make the play.”

Along with his interceptions in September, Jenning was contributed 18 tackles, including 1 tackle for a loss.

Jennings, who lost the starting job last season, has already established a career-high with his 4 interceptions. Overall, the Bears defense ranks first in the NFL in takeaways (14), red zone scoring efficiency (60.0 with 6 scores in 10 opponent red zone trips) and Aikman Rating (90.1), second in third down percentage (26.1, 12 of 46) and fifth in the league in scoring defense (17.0 points per game).