Led by Lance Briggs, Julius Peppers and Charles "Peanut" Tillman the Chicago Bears defense has proven once again that it is still the key to the teams success. This season was supposed to be dominated by the revamped Bears offense, but Jay Cutler and his struggles on and off the field have been well documented.
Brandon Marshall and Michael Bush were brought in to create one of the strongest offensive groups that Chicago has seen in years. However, the offense has not always lived up to expectations.
This Sunday, Cutler and the offense moved the ball well, but only managed to score three points in the first half against a weak Jaguars defense. It wasn't until the second half that things came together, and last Monday night against the Cowboys it was a similar story.
Luckily, just like they always have, the defense has picked up the slack. What was a 6-3 game late in the third quarter opened up after Tillman returned a Blaine Gabbert interception 36 yards for the score.
That seemed to be just the spark Cutler needed as he followed with a pair of touchdown passes to Alshon Jeffery and Brandon Marshall to make it 27-3. Not to be outdone Briggs grabbed a tipped ball and ran it 36 yards to the house for the Bears second defensive score of the day.
After today the defense has scored five touchdowns in the last three games, and shows no signs of slowing down. Before the season they were called an aging defense, but now they are back to being the Monsters of the Midway.
The offense remains a threat, but they feed off the success of the defense. If one is playing well you can count on the other to be motivated to keep up the pace, and it is this healthy competition that works for the Bears.
Once Cutler and the offense see the defense force a turnover they come out on the next drive with a renewed energy. Unfortunately that energy has not always been there for the entire game.
Despite all the changes made during the off-season, the one consistent has been the defense. Chicago is known for having one of the toughest defensive units in the NFL, and I don't see a reason to change that now.
As long as they continue to score points and make big plays game after game, the defense is always going overshadow the offense. And Cutler should be fine with that because they take the pressure and attention off of him.
He should be more than happy to watch the defenders have the glory and attention. It means less focus is on him, and with the drama already caused this season the best thing for Cutler may be to step back and let guys like Urlacher and Briggs be the talk of Chicago.
This is not to say that he should simply manage games, he is too good a quarterback for that, but when the defense is at its best is when Cutler has shined.
That's been the Bears reputation for years, and now, even with all the weapons on offense, the men on the defensive side of the ball are out to prove they are not to be forgotten.
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