Bears defense steals show over Falcons

The Greatest Show on Turf. That’s what the Atlanta Falcons promised, and who would doubt it? They traded half their draft so they could move up and get burner Julio Jones. A Ferrari offense. That wasn’t just media hype. It was the players saying it themselves.

We love flashy offenses, big plays, wild stuff. What could be more fun to see than that? Well, maybe it’s just personal preference, but any Chicagoan will tell you that one thing is better: watching a defense shut down a cocky offense by using body shots.

Or in this case, Urlacher shots. The Chicago Bears beat the Falcons
30-12 on Sunday at Soldier Field. Beat them up. Beat them down. This was the Greatest Mouth-Shutting on Turf. And by late in the second quarter, the Falcons had given up.

“They are a good offense,’’ Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher said, “no matter what anybody says.’’

No matter ... huh?

Well, this was an ideal start for the Bears. Quarterback Jay Cutler still has to prove himself. There were doubts last year about his big-game ability, as he’d never gotten to one. And after he led the Bears to the NFC title game, there were only more doubts, as he was awful in the first half and then sat out most of the second with a knee injury that didn’t require surgery.

On Sunday, he took a beating, thanks to the Bears' iffy offensive line.

And he threw for 312 yards and two touchdowns. Devin Hester broke tackles on returns and receptions. Tailback Matt Forte broke a run and also a catch.

You never know what you’re going to get at the start of a season, so when your playmakers make plays in the opener, that’s all you can ask.

But the dominant force of the game was the Bears’ defense. Urlacher is the symbol of that defense, and also, honestly, of the city.

He had a diving interception — “It was crazy man,’’ he said, sarcastically. “He threw it and I caught it.’’ And on one play, Bears defensive end Julius Peppers chased Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan around the backfield, a Ferrari in reverse. Ryan fumbled, and Urlacher picked it up and ran for a touchdown.

But some people see football as a technical game, so let me get a little more specific.

What happened, in technical terms, was this: The Bears kicked the Falcons’ butt.

You’d think that if you trade away five draft picks to get one guy, as the Falcons did with Jones, you might want to actually use him. And Ryan said they did try to use Jones.

The truth is, they just couldn’t. Jones said that the Bears' defense played back and made sure everything happened in front of them. True.

In classic Cover 2 defense, the Bears powered their way at the line, then dropped back. Let them catch the ball short, and then crush them. The Bears did it over and over. And the Greatest Show on Turf was unable, and then unwilling, to grind it out.

“The Falcons didn’t run at all the second half,’’ Urlacher said.

Ryan talked about turnovers and technical mistakes needing to be worked out. But the Falcons have a bigger problem than that. When you give up once, it becomes so much easier to do the next time.

To Chicago, the city, this smashmouth is like a ballet. This is a town that romanticizes blood and guts. It’s an old notion, based on the old Bears playing in the bitter cold, happier to tally up a body count than points.

The game has modernized, of course, and you can’t just out-tough everyone anymore. To try that makes you look like a Neanderthal.

But the point is that the Bears and Falcons, two potential playoff teams, already appear to be heading in opposite directions. It’s dangerous to read too much into one game, but the Bears seem to have some skill, lots of toughness, and also more than $15 million of room under the salary cap to fill in needs when they come up. Like one more linebacker. Another offensive lineman. Whatever injuries take away.

Someone asked Urlacher, who also had 10 tackles, if this was one of his best games ever.

“Well, we won the game,’’ he said. “That’s all I care about. Stats, this and that, you can have all that.’’

Music to a Chicagoan's ears. Sometimes a Hummer can be more beautiful than a Ferrari.