New York Giants Crush Chicago: 10 Sacks in Rout of Bears

For anyone watching Sunday night's contest between the Chicago Bears and the New York Giants, it was clear that it was one of the sloppiest and offensively offensive contests in recent memory.

And that's just how the Giants want it.

The New York Giants won Super Bowl XLII on the backs on performances just like last nights. The offense will come around and score enough points to win, and the defense, specifically the pass rush, will flat out dominate.

The Bears, formerly a 3-0 team and considered to be a playoff team by many, left East Rutherford, New Jersey a broken, beaten, and battered squad.

While much of the blame can be laid on the Bears for beating themselves with a poor game plan and even poorer decision making by Jay Cutler, enough cannot be said about how the Giants asserted their dominance in this game.

With nine first-half sacks, an NFL record, the Giants simply manhandled the offensive line of the Bears while consistently putting Jay Cutler on his back.

Osi Unmeniyora, one of the leaders of this defense and a barometer of the defense's success, had a huge night with three sacks in the first half alone. Fellow defensive end Justin Tuck, another vocal leader from the Super Bowl XLII winning team, matched Osi with three sacks of his own. The two of them more than picked up the slack for injured teammate Mathias Kiwanuka, who is sure to be out for more than a few weeks.

The dominance of Osi even allowed corner back Aaron Ross to record the sack that ended up being the death knell for Cutler. With the blockers so focused on Umeniyora, Ross came unseen and untouched into the backfield to drop Cutler and knock him out of the game with a concussion.

By the end of the second half, the Bears were keeping seven blockers in the backfield and offensive line to account for the Giants pass rush.

Not even that was enough to keep Cutler upright.

The passion and purpose with which the Giants played was indicative of both their desperation in a rabid New York market and their realization of the goals of new defensive coordinator Perry Fewell.

In 2007, it took the Giants a few games to catch on to Steve Spagnuolo's system, and once they did, they rode it all the way to the Super Bowl.

It seems the same thing is happening in 2010. With a defense lead by Perry Fewell's intensity and creativity, along with the veteran leadership on the Giant defense, expect this Giants team to contend for the division title in a wide open NFC East.

With Vick's injury, the Redskins' unproven team, and the Cowboys being the Cowboys, the Giants should be given as a good a chance as any to win this division. Champions aren't made in four weeks as much as seasons aren't lost in four weeks.

The Giants have a long way to go, but it's obvious after their beat down of the Bears that they should not be counted out.  

Mike Osterberg is a student at Penn State University and a writing intern at BleacherReport.com. Follow him on twitter @Mike_Osterberg.