CHICAGO - Though the Saints and Bears entered their Monday night meeting both with 5-8 records, only one side had a possible postseason berth to play for.
With the 31-15 win, the Saints took first place in the lowly NFC South before their battle with Atlanta Dec. 21 to decide the division.
Eliminated from the playoffs for the fourth straight season and the seventh of their last eight, the Chicago Bears had only their pride to defend.
Apparently, the Midway's alleged monsters have no pride.
In two straight games, the Bears were outscored 59-7 before getting off the canvas with five late touchdowns of their own, but would go 0-for-2 in their comeback bids.
They even held a 14-0 lead in Detroit on Thanksgiving before coughing up a 34-17 defeat after Matthew Stafford flung three touchdowns in the second quarter.
Monday night found Jay Cutler complete 3 passes to the Saints against 5 to the Bears through three quarters as the home side fell behind 24-0. Cutler found Marquess Wilson for a late score and Alshon Jeffery with 30 seconds left.
Drew Brees' second touchdown drive went 95 yards, three more yards than the Bears gained in the entire game to that time.
Cutler trailed Brees 2-111 passing after the first quarter and 41-217 at the half, and would bookend the second quarter with interceptions. Brees did the same -- but with touchdowns, to Josh Hill as the second began and Marques Colston with 32 seconds left in it.
"They knew what they were doing," was the succinct analysis of the Bears signal-caller later that night. "They had a good plan. They had a good plan."
Both sides exchanged turnovers to open the night in the Soldier Field slop. Cutler was picked on his third pass and Nick Toon fumbled Drew Brees' first pass attempt on the Bears 3.
But the Saints would recover from their early mistakes, and for their second straight week, the Bears would wait until the fourth quarter to surmount an insurmountable deficit.
Sacked seven times, Cutler would flee his postgame meeting with the press quicker than he did the Saints' pass rushers.
"We've got to play better and take a look at the film and try to see exactly what slowed us down," Cutler said afterwards. "They mixed it up pretty well against us. They showed us a few new things."
With that, thirty seconds later, he was told most of the media had yet to arrive, still talking to players in the locker room.
"We're going to wait for them?" Cutler asked Bears PR man Jim Christman in a deflated tone.
"OK, thank you," he said as he left the room.
Waiting is the theme in Chicago, who, after winning the Super Bowl with the '85 Bears, a phrase that when spoken is a synonym for excellence, have been through 28 quarterbacks since that banner year.
Jay Cutler, a Bears fan since his youth in Indiana, was signed from Denver in 2009 as their next savior. Since then, the Bears are 44-35, and in the offseason inked Cutler to a 7-year extension worth north of $120 million.
Those dollars, plus the league's most turnovers, inspired offensive coach Aaron Kromer to an anonymous wisecrack that the Bears had "buyer's remorse" over the signing. He admitted to the remark later, and despite Cutler accepting his apology, there has been little improvement in the locker room's atmosphere.
And after falling 51-23 at the Patriots in Week 9, a game in which they trailed 38-7 at the half, they had a week off before being slapped in a 55-14 laugher the following Sunday night at the arch-rival Packers.
The Bears surrendered 11 passing touchdowns in those two contests. Jay Cutler found 5 touchdowns of his own, but also lost two fumbles and threw two interceptions.
"It's frustrating," he said Tuesday morning. "We're trying to say the same thing different ways after games. You get to a point where you don't have the answer. I think that's where we're at."
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