"Are you kidding me?"
Those words were the only thing that flew out of my mouth when I heard the Bears won 48-24.
I watched Cutler sacrifice his body. I watched the defense play stupid the first Detroit drive. I heard Joniak call the game up until the point when it was 34-24 Detroit. I left to go check on something for my job and just assumed the Bears closed it out. I talked to someone who had a Bears fleece on and asked him if he knew the final score.
I suppose it's really not that surprising. It sounds like the defense was ridiculous in the second half. My guy Johnny "Know" Knox finally broke one. And, of course, can't forget about J.C.
Let me say something about Cutler and Orton. At this point, I could care less how Orton does. If he wins the Super Bowl this year, good on him. But I wouldn't trade back in a million years. Just remember that if you see a Broncos meatball this week.
Anyways, let's push forth. Make sure to read all the quotes - there are some doozies in there.
Lovie on the game:
"To get to 3-1 takes a lot after starting out with a loss," said coach Lovie Smith. "The guys did a super job. We need to start stronger and faster and all of that. But I'm proud of how the guys finished the game. At the time, both teams were scoring a bit. It just didn't feel like field goals would get it. If you're at home and you can't get a yard, you have problems anyway, so in those situations we'll normally go for it."
Lovie on Jay helicoptering his way into the end zone:
"That's what you expect from your leader. Your leader has to sacrifice from time to time. It didn't surprise me at all. Jay's a tough guy. He has a defensive-type mentality at times, and we needed that play."
Lovie on the ST play:
"We've won a lot of games based on what our special teams have done, and today that was definitely the case."
Dave Toub on Johnny Knox:
"I told the coaching staff at the last staff meeting that it was a matter of time until Johnny breaks one. It was a designed bounce or naked, however you want to call it. Everyone is blocking left and then he bounced it out naked to the field. We saw that they were over-pursuing. We ran left, left, left in the first half, and then we came out in the second half with the left and bounced it to the right. "It was great. I'm really happy for Johnny. Every return he's been close. It's good to see him finally get one."
Jay Cutler on the mindset at halftime:
"When it was 21-21 at halftime we knew the defense was going to step up and they were going to get some stops and they played lights out. The third quarter they were unbelievable. They did a great job of getting the ball back to us. We didn't really capitalize, but we got some field goals out of it, which helped."
Jay Cutler on his running TD:
"I wasn't woozy after the play." [ChiFan13 note: My stomach was]
Jay Cutler on whether he was channeling Elway (what a stupid question, Chicago MSM):
"I was not. I was just trying to get in there. If I could have just dove in there nice and quietly I would have."
Jay Cutler on the running game:
"We felt good about the running game since Day 1. You [media] guys are the ones who were making a big deal out of it. We knew sooner or later it was going to pop. We got two big runs out of Matt. I think offensively we just saw some defenses that were designed to stop the run, so we had to take advantage of some things outside. It's a long season. Matt is going to have a lot of yards for us and a lot of production, much like today."
Jay Cutler on the 4-and-1 in the 2nd quarter:
"Lovie was right there. He said we're going for it. We had a great call in. We felt really good about three or four different goal-line passes we had. We had already used the one [on a two-yard TD to Kellen Davis], so we went with the second one and Greg did a great job getting across the line."
Matt Forte on his performance:
"It feels good. That's what you have to do, is keep hitting it. It's not going to always be there. You make a play here and see what happens."
Johnny Knox on his return TD:
"You know it felt real good. Got some good blocks from my teammates. You know I've been trying to get to the end zone on special teams since the preseason. I'm just glad it happened today. Coach [Dave] Toub said this was going to be a big return for us coming out after halftime. He called it. At halftime coach Toub said that it was going to be a big return for us. My teammates gave me good blocks, I found a hole and I hit it. It felt real good, but it still really hasn't hit me. When I watch film, it will probably hit me then."
Lance Briggs on how the other LB's performed:
"I think they did well, they did very well. They come out, week in and week out, and prove they belong. If there are any question marks, it's not from there."
Nick Roach on his performance:
"It feels really good to have a week of practice at it and be able to go and execute some things. Obviously, it's never perfect, but in the second half we had a lot of guys stepping up and making plays."
Adewale on the D's mindset:
"I guess we've got to get punched in the face a couple times to realize we're in a fight."
Adewale on Tommie's INT:
"We're going to hear a lot about it. But Tommie looked like a dear[sic] in headlights when the ball got in his hands. He didn't know what to do with it. But I'm happy for him being able to make plays like that."
Charles Tillman on Calvin Johnson:
"He's strong. I was on him one time, and he pushed me off and still caught the ball."
Brad Maynard on being a complete stud:
"I feel like I am hitting the ball better than I did last year. I feel like I have a lot of confidence. It's going where I want it to go. Knock on wood, everything is going good."