The scoreboard showed only a 12 point gap, but the New Orleans Saints' win over the Chicago Bears was not as close as the 21-9 score may suggest, thanks in large part to the last second, meaningless touchdown Chicago scored.
It was still close at halftime, though, with New Orleans leading 7-3 and the Bears threatening to score a couple times. But the Saints defense had come to play.
“Yesterday, you won it with your defense,” WWL NFL analyst Mike Detillier said. “You couldn't ask that defense to do anything better than what they did yesterday. You gave up less than 240 yards of total offense. The Bears were 1-10 on third down conversions. They didn't get the running game going, and that's how the Bears have won.”
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Chicago gained just 239 yards, their second-lowest total of the season; and they did not convert a third down until the final, garbage-time drive. They had rushed for over 100 yards in over half their games this season; they managed only 48 yards on the ground on Sunday, exactly half of what they rushed for in the regular season meeting.
The Saints offense was struggling, however. Out of six drives, only one resulted in points for New Orleans. The other five consisted of three punts, a missed field goal, and a lost fumble.
“In the first half, you were really sluggish on offense,” Detillier said. “Other than that one series, man, it didn't look good at all. But you were able to piece it together in the second half.
“In the second half, the Saints made adjustments,” Detillier went on. “They brought in an extra offensive lineman. Drew got time to throw the football. It was long, sustained drives. That's what you want. And you end up with a victory.”
The Saints only had three drives in the second half, due in great part to how successful each of them were. Their first two drives took 7:29 and 8:51 off the clock respectively and ended with touchdowns. The final drive lasted 5:19 and ended in a turnover on downs at the Bears 1 yard line.
New Orleans now moves on from one rematch to another. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are coming to town for what will be the third match-up between the two teams this season. The Saints swept the Bucs in the regular season.
“There's a lazy narrative out there that it's rare for a team to beat another team three times in a season,” Detillier said. “And that's incorrect. Since 1970, it's happened 21 times. The team that won the first two games has won the third game 14 of the 21 times.”
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The Saints kickoff at 5:40pm CT on Sunday.