Bears vs. Saints: 4 Things We Learned About New Orleans on Sunday

Coming into Sunday's game I thought the Chicago Bears were just a team on psychological steroids. That they were able to crush Atlanta last week at home seemed to have more to do with a team pumped up to play its home opener against the no.1 seed in the NFC last season.

In a sense, you could say with the passing of Brian Urlacher's mother earlier this week, Urlacher and the defense were even more so on psychological drugs. The problem with steroids and/or drugs is that they wear off. And once they wear off, the effect is generally one of laziness or worse even dissipation of muscles and mindset.

That seemed to be the effect on the Bears against the Saints. New Orleans, playing its home opener, was filled with tremendous effort and a raucous home crowd, which made things difficult on Jay Cutler and the Bears offense.

The Saints offense had little problem moving the ball against a flat Bears defense. The only thing the Saints could have done better is score more.

Drew Brees Is Even Better at Home

Drew Brees was outstanding last Thursday night at Green Bay--especially in the second half. Well, though the numbers were not equivalent, Brees was about 10 times better Sunday versus Chicago.

Playing without Marques Colston and Lance Moore providing nothing of value, Brees moved on as usual and spotted other great options. Drew threw deep into double coverage on 3rd-and-12 in the first half and overthrew the safeties perfectly into the arms of the speedy Devery Henderson. Henderson had his second consecutive 100-yard receiving performance.

Robert Meachem caught a touchdown pass in the red zone, Jimmy Graham had several key receptions to pick up first downs, and Brees brilliantly used Darren Sproles and Pierre Thomas on checkdowns and screens.

He finished 26 of 37 for 270 yards and three touchdowns while avoiding a turnover and hardly ever getting touched. The lack of sacks is as much a credit to Brees as it is his offensive line.

Brees gets another favorable matchup next week when the Houston Texans visit the Superdome.

Saints Defense Is Better at Home

I think every Saints fan and football expert knew the same thing about the New Orleans defense--they aren't nearly as bad as they looked in the season opener versus Green Bay. Additionally, I feel confident most knew they could be a pretty good defense.

They made strides towards that Sunday. The Saints sacked Jay Cutler six times, forced a fumble, and most impressively made the Chicago Bears a completely one-dimensional offense. They did it with an excessive amount of pressure and speed off the edge.

That speed was aided by the Bears offense being slowed by all the noise present in the Superdome. And the Saints were just a faster football team--as expected.

It won't be long until the Saints are at full-go defensively with DE Will Smith returning from suspension next week against the Texans. It will be a tough matchup, but this Saints defense could slow the Texans offense down.

Saints Rookies Are Ready to Contribute

Mark Ingram didn't score a touchdown on a couple of goal-line carries. Cameron Jordan didn't record a sack.

Yet both of them made important contributions to the win against the Bears.

Jordan did a wonderful job holding the point of attack against the running game. And he helped create the pressure on Cutler that led to the six sacks and tons of hurried inaccurate throws. 

And Mark Ingram ran with a force and power that picked up a few first downs and provided the offense with some momentum and possession of the football--also a key to the Saints' defensive success in this game.

Jordan will now be more of a rotation player with the return of Will Smith, but he's more ready to be effective in that role than he was two weeks ago.

And Ingram will continue to improve and get more carries, so long as he avoids fumbling--as he did late in the fourth quarter.

Saints Offensive Line Still Needs Time to Gel

It's not as if the Saints offensive line wasn't effective versus the Bears. Certainly, the pass protection for Drew Brees was much better against Chicago than against Green Bay.

But the running game was not as effective as it should've been against the Bears pathetic rush defense--especially on the goal-line.

When you have a back like Mark Ingram, goal-to-go running plays ought to be automatic. So far this season every Saints fan, and football fan in general, knows that they have been anything but.

Until the offensive line can guarantee touchdowns on the goal-line, it isn't playing at the level that it needs to. Hopefully the Saints improve in that area sooner rather than later.