Chicago Bears: 6 Biggest Contributors in 37-13 Win over Lions

The Bears dominated Detroit with their best defensive performance of the season, pulling off a 37-13 victory.

Six turnovers keyed an easy win for the Bears over their hated rival, and that makes picking the biggest contributors tough—everyone could be on the list. 

But here are six players who changed the game.

No. 6: Tim Jennings

On one play, Jennings slipped and got beat by Nate Burleson—but he stayed with it, forced a fumble and recovered near the sidelines.

Turns out you can't always play perfect defense, but you can hustle every second. 

He edges Charles Tillman out of this spot because he led the team with 10 total tackles and, like most of the secondary, had an interception against Matthew Stafford.

Following the interception, Jennings was ruled down by contact but almost had a big return. "I thought it was out there," he said. "My first thing was to just get up and see how much I could get. See if I could score. Everybody was out there scoring. I just gave it a shot."

No. 5: Brian Urlacher

"We played the way we wanted to play," Urlacher said after the game. "They were in our way today, we took care of business."

That might even be an understatement.

Urlacher had nine tackles, knocked down a pass and recovered a fumble. 

"I don't think you're going to lose too many games playing like that on defense. That's as dominant as I've been around since I've been here," he said.

No. 4: Earl Bennett (and His Orange Shoes)

Bennett finished with six receptions for 80 yards.

That seems average, but the rest of the Bears had just three receptions. Total.

Bennett put on a catching display for the second week, with four receptions in the first quarter. He was easily Jay Cutler's favorite target, especially on third down.

But his tiptoe catch on the sidelines proved he has elite receiver skills, and his bright orange shoes made it easy to see he got both feet in bounds.

He was fined $5,000 by the NFL for wearing the shoes last week, a uniform violation, and speculation persisted: Would he wear them again after such a great performance against the Eagles?

“I asked two guys, ‘Should I wear black or orange [shoes]?’ One said, ‘Gotta be the orange, and I’ll pay the fine,'" he said.

The guy paying the fine was Cutler.

“He asked me before the game, ‘Yay or nay?’ on the orange," Cutler said. "I was like, ‘Yeah, can’t back out now.’ This game took a little bit of a check out of my wallet.”

It might be the shoes, but I'd bet on Bennett's hands.

Cutler is playing it safe: He's betting on both.  

No. 3: Devin Hester

What else is there to say about Hester? 

He broke another record today. He does it almost every week. Most of them are already his. 

His first return let the Bears start at midfield. His second went 82 yards for a touchdown (see video).

It was the 12th punt return TD of his career, an NFL record, and it was his 17th combined kick-punt return TD, also an NFL record.

 He totaled 122 yards on just just three returns and had another negated on a holding penalty.

And that was just the first half. 

He sat out the second half, apparently due to illness not injury. He had been listed as questionable prior to the game.

But his play left no doubts: He's the best returner ever. Still. Again. Whatever. He's ridiculous. 

No. 2: Matthew Stafford

Stafford was a major contributor to Chicago's victory. 

His ability to find an open member of the Bears secondary was impressive, completing interceptions to Tim Jennings, Major Wright, Charles Tillman and Corey Graham.

He finished 35-of-66 (53 percent) with a TD and four picks. He was sacked three times.

At one point, he tossed nine consecutive incomplete passes.

And his frustration incited a brawl after throwing Bears' nickelback D.J. Moore to the ground by his helmet.

Asked about the incident after the game, Stafford said, “I was just trying to get him [Moore] off of me the best I knew how. I guess he didn’t like the way I did it and he wanted to ask me about it."

Obviously, he dodged that question better than blitzing Bears.

"I’ve got to give a lot of credit to Chicago. They’re a good football team,” Stafford said.

No. 1: Julius Peppers

The box score says just one tackle—a sack of Stafford—one forced fumble and one pass defended, but Peppers owned the field. He rushed from the left, the right and even from the interior of the defensive line.

The Bears believed Peppers wouldn't get chip-blocked by running backs if he came from the middle. They were right.

It was his pressure and pursuit of Stafford from all angles that kept the Lions offense from finding a second gear.

Stafford may stay nervous all week, wondering when Peppers will jump out of nowhere to pressure him again.

He shouldn't have to worry much longer. The way the Lions are playing, if Stafford sees Peppers in the playoffs it will be on TV.

Honorable Mentions

Cutler and Matt Forte were both average, but they didn't make mistakes and kept the offense and the clock moving. Can't complain they tried to do too much.

Anyone on defense is a candidate for this list but Lance Briggs and Charles Tillman had particularly strong games. 

Tillman effectively kept Calvin Johnson in check, a considerable statement. He defended three passes, had five tackles and an interception return for a touchdown (but to be fair, almost everyone did). 

Meanwhile, Briggs delivered punishing blows and added eight tackles. His "revenge hit" on Megatron earned an unnecessary roughness penalty and sent the message the Bears would retaliate for Detroit's dirty hits with some of their own.

Lastly, Anthony Adams had two sacks in the second quarter in his return to the starting lineup.  

Someone missing from this list? Share your top contributors in the comments below.