Malcolm Jenkins sacks Jay Cutler to force a 1st quarter takeaway.
The Saints went in to Chicago and put up another dominating defensive performance to pull out a 26-18 victory. The 8 point margin makes it look closer than it actually was, but the Saints were in control from the opening kickoff. New Orleans sacked Jay Cutler 3 times in the first half and forced 1 turnover, helping get them out to an early lead.
The Saints defense hinted towards a dominate day from the start, as they sent Chicago’s offense back to the sidelines after a quick three and out to begin the game. The Saints then drove down to the Bears’ 30 yard line to settle for a 47 yard field goal from Garrett Hartley to open the scoring. On the following drive, Malcolm Jenkins sacked and forced a fumble on Jay Cutler, which was recovered and returned to inside the 10 yard line by Cam Jordan. Once again, the Saints red-zone offense sputtered and they had to settle for another Hartley field goal, this one from 19 yards out.
The two teams traded punts on the next five possessions, before Pierre Thomas finally scored the first touchdown of the game. A 38 yard completion from Drew Brees to Jimmy Graham set the Saints up with a goal-to-go situation inside of the 5 yard line. Drew Brees rolled out to find Thomas in the flat to cash in for the score.
That Saints touchdown started a streak of three straight touchdowns from the two teams to close out the first half. Chicago answered with a fairly easy 7 play, 80 yard touchdown drive, which was capped off with a 3 yard touchdown pass from Jay Cutler to Alshon Jeffery. The touchdown came on somewhat of a busted play, as Chicago ran a rub route, which caused two Saints defenders to collide in to each other, leaving Jeffery wide open.
New Orleans came up with a touchdown answer of their own, cashing in with a 25 yard touchdown from Brees to Thomas on a beautifully executed screen pass with :23 left before the half.
The two teams traded field goals in the 3rd quarter, with things then essentially coming down to a 4th down attempt from Chicago at the Saints’ 26 yard line with just under 9 minutes to play. Cutler threw a perfect pass to Earl Bennett on an out route, but Bennett flat out dropped the easy first down, giving the ball back to the Saints with 8:40 to play. Drew Brees led a very important drive that ate up 5:39 of the clock, then finished it off with a 48 yard field goal from Hartley.
Down 16 with 3 minutes to play, Chicago’s chances looked very bleak, until Kenny Vaccaro made a rookie mistake. The young safety was in coverage on Alshon Jeffery, but had his eyes in the backfield and allowed the receiver to get behind him. Cutler hit Jeffery for a 58 yard completion down to the Saints 2 yard line. Cutler then hit Brandon Marshall for a 2 yard touchdown on the next play, after Marshall had been kept quiet the whole game. The Bears added on the 2 point conversion to keep their hopes alive in a one score game.
Chicago attempted an onside kick, but the Saints would recover and run the clock down to :21 after a punt for a touchback from Thomas Morstead. The Bears would only be able to get one more play off and their comeback effort fell short.
It was a great win for the Saints, despite the Bears making it closer at the end. The 18 point effort from Chicago was the most points that New Orleans gave up this year, but still, that’s five games in which they held their opponent under 20 points. Taking that stat in to account with the Saints offense, it’s no surprise that they are now 5-0. We’ll look more in-depth at some of the things we were looking for heading in to the game and what actually happened, but for now, the Saints are in sole possession of 1st place in the NFC after a Seattle loss to Indianapolis.
Stats
Drew Brees – 29-35 / 288 yards / 2 TDs / 0 INTs
Pierre Thomas – 19 carries / 36 yards / 9 receptions / 55 yards / 2 receiving TDs
Jimmy Graham – 10 receptions / 135 yards
Jed Collins – 4 receptions / 17 yards
Curtis Lofton – 9 tackles / 8 solo (team lead)
Kenny Vaccaro – 6 tackles / 1 sack / 1 tackle for loss / 1 pass defended
David Hawthorne – 5 tackles / 1 sack / 2 tackles for loss
Malcolm Jenkins – 3 tackles / 1 sack
Garrett Hartley – 4 field goals (47, 19, 36, and 48)
Interesting Notes
– 44 of the Saints 46 tackles were solo tackles (compared to 54/70 for the Bears).
– New Orleans’ three sacks on Cutler all came on blitzes and none of them were from typical pass rushers.
– Drew Brees’ streak of 9 consecutive games with 300 yards passing came to an end, settling for a tie with himself for the NFL record.
– Brees’ NFL record streak of 54 straight games with a passing touchdown is now safe after Tom Brady failed to throw a touchdown today. He would’ve had the opportunity to tie Brees’ record against the Saints next week.
– For a good bit of the day, Chicago chose to put their best cover-man, Charles Tillman, on Jimmy Graham. That’s just another huge sign of how much teams are now threatened by Graham’s ability.
– Graham still made 10 catches for 135 yards, thus showing his freakish ability.
The Saints improve to 5-0 and will remain on the road as they travel to New England for 3:25 match-up against the 4-1 Patriots next Sunday. Chicago falls to 3-2 as they prepare to welcome the 0-5 Giants on Thursday Night Football.
Who Dat?!
