Chicago Bears Team Report vs Saints

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Chicago Bears Team Report

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Kyle Orton followed Drew Brees to Purdue because he wanted to be just like him.

"He made a lot of stuff happen for the program and was a big reason why I went there," Orton said. "I wanted to throw for all those yards and put up the numbers that he did. No question he was a big influence and a reason why I went there."

Orton never put up the staggering numbers Brees did at Purdue, but not many have. Brees finished his stay in West Lafayette, Ind., ranked fourth in NCAA Division I history in total offense, completions and attempts. Brees totaled 12,692 yards of total offense, while Orton finished second in Purdue history with 9,653 yards.

Comparisons to the prolific passer didn't bother Orton, even though they were a constant throughout his career as a Boilermaker, which began after Brees was drafted 32nd overall by the Chargers in 2001.

"Every quarterback that goes through that place is going to be compared to Drew," Orton said. "He was a great quarterback in college, he's certainly an outstanding quarterback in the NFL and a good person to watch and try to model yourself after."

That's still the case.

"It's not like we talk on the phone every night or something," Orton said, "but whenever we get to see each other, it's always friendly and good. He's fun to talk football with. He's an extremely smart player. I remember my freshman year; if I ever needed to find out how to run a play or (attack) a certain look, I'd just go and pop on (film of) what he did and try to do that. It seemed to work out for him."

A little less than a year ago they squared off at Soldier Field in the 2007 season finale, and Brees put it up 60 times, completing 35 for 320 yards and three touchdowns but also had a pair of interceptions. Orton completed just 12 of 27 passes for 190 yards with two touchdowns and one pick, but the Bears won 33-25, and Orton's passer rating of 77.7 for the game was two points better than Brees'.

Thursday night at Soldier Field, Orton and the 7-6 Bears face Brees and the 7-6 Saints in a nationally televised game that each team needs to keep tenuous playoff hopes alive.

"I can't wait to play him," Orton said. "I've had fun playing him in the past, and I can't wait to do it this time."

Orton's teammates on the defensive side might not be so anxious to engage Brees, who leads the NFL with 4,100 passing yards, 52 completions of 20 yards or longer and 15 completions of 40 yards or longer, is tied for first with 26 TD passes and is fourth in passer rating (96.2).

"He's been playing great," Bears defensive end Adewale Ogunleye said. "One thing we've talked about this year is quarterbacks who get the ball out (quickly). We're going to have a little bit of a problem with that. He gets the ball out really fast. They're spreading us out a little bit, so our guys on the back end have got to cover these receivers really well. (We) have to either get our hands up or get some hits on him."

Orton doesn't get to throw nearly as much as Brees does in the pass-happy Saints offense, but he's established himself as the leader of the Bears offense and has a 15-8 TD-interception ratio and an 83.5 passer rating. He doesn't have to be as productive as Brees for the Bears to defeat the Saints. He just needs to be efficient, as he was Sunday in his best game in six weeks.

"I executed the offense, made pretty good decisions, and we made some plays," Orton said. "That's been our story for success all year."

SERIES HISTORY: 26th meeting. Bears lead Saints 12-11 in regular-season games and 14-11 including postseason. Teams have met once in each of the past three seasons, with the Bears winning each time. In the 2007 regular-season finale, the Bears won 33-25, and they crushed the Saints 39-14 in the NFC Championship Game after the 2006 season, with both games at Soldier Field. In 2005, the Bears won 20-17 at the Louisiana Superdome.

NOTES, QUOTES

—Brad Maynard has a commanding lead among NFL punters with 32 kicks inside the opponents' 20-yard line, a statistic that the 12-year veteran considers of utmost importance.

The Raiders' Shane Lechler is next with 27, but Maynard wants more than to lead the league. He wants to surpass his personal best of 36 punts inside the 20, which he achieved in 2001, his first season with the Bears. Maynard has also always wanted to hit the 40 mark, which has been done just once in NFL history, by the 49ers' Andy Lee, who had 42 last season.

Maynard placed four of his six punts last Sunday inside the 20 and allowed a total of just 2 return yards despite nippy conditions that seemed to affect the Jaguars' Steve Weatherford as it has many other visiting punters at Soldier Field.

But Maynard played high school football in Indiana (Sheridan), then attended Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., and played for four years with the Giants before joining the Bears, where he's in his eighth season.

He's probably more familiar with kicking in inclement weather than anyone, and he usually gives the Bears an edge in that phase of late-season games.

"I don't know what it is," Maynard said. "I wish I had an answer. I almost feel like everybody else falls off, (but) I stay the same. My numbers don't exactly shoot up in that kind of weather, but it seems like the guys I go up against go down a lot of times. I can't believe I just said that before a game. I should say that at the end of the year, not now."

—Kyle Orton's performance last Sunday, his best in six weeks, would have been even better had his receivers not dropped at least four catchable passes. But that's just football, according to the Bears quarterback, whose passer rating of 85.3 was his highest since Oct. 19, when he had a 114.5 rating against the Vikings.

"It's certainly part of the game, especially when you get into December — cold weather and poor field conditions," Orton said. "So that's certainly going to happen. Drops are always going to happen. The day I don't miss a throw is the day I can complain when someone drops a football."

—The Bears would like to go into Thursday night's game with the Saints knowing they only have to contain the passing of Drew Brees to defeat the visitors, but they can't make that assumption.

"They ran for over 180 yards (184) last week," Bears defensive coordinator Bob Babich said. "Pierre (Thomas) had (102) yards, Reggie Bush had (80). Recently the run-pass ratio has been closer to balanced, so I think that's the direction they're headed."

BY THE NUMBERS: 1,476 — Yards from scrimmage by RB Matt Forte, who last week surpassed the Bears' franchise record for rookies, which was previously held by Gale Sayers, who accumulated 1,374 yards in a 14-game season in 1965. Forte is second in the NFL, trailing only Adrian Peterson's 1,522 yards from scrimmage.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "From here on out, we don't have any room for error, so

we've got to win this game and move on." — QB Kyle Orton, noting that the 7-6 Bears essentially have to make up two games on the 8-5 Vikings with just three remaining since Minnesota holds the tiebreaker advantages.

STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL

NT Dusty Dvoracek was placed on injured reserve Tuesday after suffering a ruptured biceps on the second play of the Week 12 game against the Vikings. At the time, Dvoracek led all Bears linemen with 40 tackles, but backups Israel Idonije and Anthony Adams have more than picked up the slack.

Idonije got a game ball for his 1 1/2 sacks last week, while Adams had 10 tackles, the most by a Bears lineman since 2006.

"Both gave us good play," coach Lovie Smith said. "Izzy, you just look at him, he's a big body, not only as a pass rusher but (as a) pass rusher who can get his hands up. He deflected a couple of balls and played the run hard.

"Late in the year, you need a couple of guys from the bullpen coming in, and that's what we're getting from them."


PLAYER/PERSONNEL NOTES

—RB Garrett Wolfe, who leads the Bears with 21 special teams tackles, will not play Thursday night against the Saints because of a hamstring injury.

—LB Lance Briggs leads the Bears with 114 total tackles, 67 solo tackles and two forced fumbles, and he's second on the team with three interceptions.

—RB Matt Forte's 1,081 rushing yards are 73 percent of the team's total, and he leads the Bears with 53 receptions and 10 touchdowns. No one else on the team has scored more than three times.

—WR Brandon Lloyd still leads the Bears with a 15.4-yard average per catch, although he's caught just four passes for 44 yards in the past nine games, five of which he missed with a sprained knee.

—DE Adewale Ogunleye is tied for the team lead with five sacks and 11 QB hurries, and he leads the Bears' defensive linemen with 41 tackles.

GAME PLAN: The Bears will continue to ride rookie RB Matt Forte, but they will not abandon the passing game, as they showed last week against the Jaguars, throwing more often than they ran. That will be especially true against a Saints defense that is even worse against the pass than it is against the run, doesn't rush the passer very well and doesn't get many takeaways.

After the Saints rushed for 184 yards last week, and considering that Pierre Thomas gashed them for 105 on the ground last year, the Bears can't focus exclusively on QB Drew Brees, although they know they must get pressure on him from the front four, or he will make life miserable for them, no matter how cold it is at Soldier Field. Brees threw for 674 yards and five touchdowns in his last two games vs. the Bears, but the Saints lost both games.

MATCHUPS TO WATCH: Bears FS Kevin Payne, who leads the team and is tied for fifth in the NFC with four interceptions, vs. Saints QB Drew Brees, who has been picked off 14 times, tied for third most in the NFL. Brees has thrown five TD passes in his last two games vs. the Bears, but he's also been intercepted three times.

Bears SLB Nick Roach, who became a starter six games ago, vs. Saints RB Reggie Bush, who has 211 receptions and 1,583 receiving yards in less than three seasons.

INJURY IMPACT: DT Tommie Harris (knee), TE Desmond Clark (hamstring), FB Jason McKie (quad), WR Marty Booker (ribs) and RB Garrett Wolfe (hamstring) all missed practice Tuesday.

Harris and Clark are expected to play; the others are not.