Bears coach Lovie Smith said he was pleased with the steady progression of his offense after a 27-13 victory over the Minnesota Vikings.
"We knew the reasons why," Smith said of some of the issues. "A lot of different guys playing. There were things going on. But we stayed the course. Each week, we have identified problems, and we've tried to fix them."
One of the big fixes was getting some continuity on the offensive line, which started the same five players for a second consecutive game. The offense also converted 11 of 19 on third down.
"It's not like they were third and shorts," he said. "Converting those really kept drives going, and allowed us to get some points on the board."
The Bears have a short week, heading to Miami on Wednesday to play the Dolphins Thursday night in a game that will be televised on the NFL Network.
Other highlights from Smith's press conference today:
* Smith on the turnover ratio: "One stat that's pretty important is the turnover ratio, and we were plus two again. Normally, you have a pretty good chance of winning, once that happens. We're pleased with that."
* Smith on the 11 penalties: "We haven't had a lot of penalties. Yesterday for some reason, we had entirely too many. We need to clean that up."
* Smith on Devin Hester: "Devin has it going right now, and guys are doing a great job blocking for him. He's a threat, and teams are treating him that way."
* Smith also said his team is fairly healthy.
Thats some even distro, something not seen in Chicago in the typical Lovie Years...Maybe Martz is getting it, running the ball opens up lanes for his quick receivers. My Fav site this weekend, Seeing Hester do, what made him a sensation for 2+ seasons. Kick/Punt returning, letting him get in space. Now that helps jumps start an offense, Getting the ball @ the 35/40 yd line almost every possession, makes that whole scoring thing a little more possible.
Can we get this for 3-4 more games and finish out with 9-10 wins this season? We will have to wait and see....
Oh and that D, looking a bit 2006(ish), with the timely turnovers...
I know Vikings are 3-6 but you gonna tell me beating Favre/Peterson/Harvin and that DLine does not qualify as a good win? even the pack are gearing up for all of that this week, and we just showed them how to approach...51 yards on 17 carries thats containment...Only thing missing was ol Hunter out there causing a Peterson fumble.
As I said to a friend on Sunday when Hester was back on kick returns. That, in of itself, should be enough to get Lovie fired. Not because he was back there, but that it has taken 2 years to get him back there. When the offense has been struggling the past 1 1/2 years, why wasn't he put back there to get the Bears out of their own end of the field? Yeah, Knox and Manning are good, but Hester puts the "electricity" into the kickoff return. When Knox or Manning brings the ball out to the 40 yard line there is a roar. When Hester brings it out to the opponents 40 and gets tackled there is a "groan" because he didn't take it all the way. The expectation level of Hester back there is much greater and oh, a message to Sparano. Go ahead, kick it to Hester back there. See how fast Parcells has you in his office on Friday.