-- After missing the playoffs for three consecutive seasons following a Super Bowl appearance after the 2006 season, the Bears went 4-3 to start the Jay Cutler era and then got hot, winning the division with an 11-5 record.
-- The Seahawks beat the Bears, 23-20, in October of this season, and I recalled them blitzing Cutler like crazy and sacking him six times. So I remember being more than a little wary -- especially after seeing how the Seahawks revved up their playoff motor the week prior with running back Marshawn Lynch's famous "Beast Quake" touchdown in a win against the Saints.
-- The 35-24 final score wasn't indicative of the trouncing the Bears gave the Seahawks, who won the NFC West with a 7-9 record before taking down the Saints, 41-36, in a wild-card round game that was highlighted by Lynch's 67-yard touchdown run.
-- In this meeting against the Bears, Lynch carried just four times for two yards as first-year Seahawks coach Pete Carroll chose to run it only 12 times for 34 yards overall. The Seahawks lost two tight ends in the game to injury and were down 28-0 against the Bears' second-ranked rushing defense. So Lynch was effectively taken off the table. "We were scrambling," Carroll said. "We didn’t get to try some things without those guys. They are very difficult to run against, anyway."
-- The Bears buried the Seahawks on their first drive of the game.
-- It was Cutler’s first playoff start in his five NFL seasons, second with the Bears. His first playoff pass traveled 46 yards in the air over the top of the Seahawks safety Lawyer Milloy to tight end Greg Olsen, who traveled the final 20 yards to the end zone for the touchdown.
-- Olsen remembers the play well. "First third down of the game, we were right around midfield and we just called like a four-vertical," Olsen said. "Lawyer Milloy and a young Earl Thomas were the safeties, and Lawyer just kind of stood flat-footed and I kind of just ran right by him like he was expecting me to make a break or stop. I’m not sure what happened. Jay put the ball on the money. I’ll never forget running into the end zone and throwing my hands up and the crowd is going crazy and the snow was falling down. That felt like everything you ever dreamed of playing in front of that crowd and that marquee of a game and having such a big play on only the third snap of the game. That’s something I will also remember."
-- Olsen finished with three catches for 113 yards.
-- Olsen ran a straight seam route up the right hash marks on his way to a tremendous all-around game. The 58-yard touchdown pass capped off the Bears' opening drive in three plays in 1:17. It was a lead the Bears never lost.
-- The Bears scored three touchdowns on their first four drives, while the Seahawks punted on each of their first eight drives. The Chicago defense held quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and the Seattle offense to just 88 yards of total offense on those eight drives and shut the Seahawks out in the first half.
-- Cutler was the big story. He finished 15-of-29 for 274-yards and two touchdowns while adding two rushing touchdowns. "It was fun," he said with a smile. "That first one was called. Second one was kind of improv."
-- It was the first such type of playoff production by a quarterback since Hall of Fame quarterback Otto Graham of the Cleveland Browns accomplished the feat in 1954 and 1955.
-- There were some pull-your-hair-out moments in the game. With Chicago leading 7-0 in the first quarter, a Cutler pass at the Seattle goal line should've been intercepted by Seahawks safety Jordan Babineaux. He dropped it and arguably could've taken it a long way. In the fourth quarter with the Bears up by 25, offensive coordinator Mike Martz called a halfback pass, and Matt Forte’s throw was intercepted by Seahawks linebacker Aaron Curry.
-- Martz used Forte and Chester Taylor as a one-two punch, and Cutler ran for 43 yards. All told, the Bears dominated the clock with 37 minutes of time of possession, fueled by 45 runs for 176 yards and three touchdowns.
-- Defensively, Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs combined for 13 tackles, and defensive tackle Tommie Harris had 1.5 sacks.
-- The Bears built a 35-10 lead with less than five minutes to play in the fourth quarter after Cutler hit tight end Kellen Davis on a 39-yard catch-and-run touchdown.
-- Hasselbeck threw a trio of short touchdown passes in a 21-point fourth quarter, but the game was never in doubt. The win sent the Bears to the NFC Championship Game against the rival Green Bay Packers.