The New Orleans Saints arrived in Chicago to battle the Bears on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2013, with a 4-0 record and Sean Payton never having won against his former team at Soldier Field. The Saints were looking to remain one of the very few unbeaten teams left in the NFL, and the Bears were hoping that a rash of injuries wouldn't send them to their second loss of the season.
The defense did its job and the offense did just enough for the Saints to move to 5-0 with a 26-18 victory over the Bears.
Offense is a way of life for the Saints and has been ever since Drew Brees and Sean Payton arrived in town back in 2006. This year, it has been about the explosive offense and the likes of a defense that haven't been seen in black and gold in about 20 years.
The same defense that has played so well this season showed up again on Sunday and tormented Jay Cutler and the Chicago Bears. Things started early as the Saints forced three early punts, registered three sacks, caused two fumbles, and one turnover early in the game as New Orleans shot out to a 6-0 lead.
Halfway through the second quarter, Brees found Pierre Thomas for a two-yard touchdown pass and a 13-0 lead for New Orleans. Chicago came back with a good drive that ended with a three-yard touchdown pass from Jay Culter to Alshon Jeffery to get the Bears on the board.
The problem is they left too much time for the Saints Brees drove the Saints down field and found Thomas again for a screen pass that went 25 yards for a diving touchdown, a play that was very reminiscent of one from the Saints' Super Bowl victory years ago.
Quarter number three saw the teams trade field goals, but not much else.
Once the fourth quarter hit, the Saints concentrated on running out the clock and sitting on a 23-10 lead. It worked until the Bears were faced with a fourth and two at New Orleans' 25, and a good chance at a first down, but Earl Bennett dropped a pass that was right in his hands.
After that, New Orleans concentrated on getting rid of as much time as possible and finished off that drive with a 48-yard field goal, Garrett Hartley's fourth of the day, to go up 26-10.
The game was not over though, and the Bears came out with Cutler completing a 58-yard pass to Jeffery and followed up by a touchdown pass to Brandon Marshall. Matt Forte ran in the two-point conversion and quickly, the game was 26-18 with over two minutes to play.
One onside kick later, the Saints recovered and proceeded to run out as much clock as humanly possible with no timeouts left for the Bears.
Brees' streak of 300-plus yards passing ended at nine again, his own record, but Jimmy Graham did tie an NFL record with his fourth consecutive game of 100 receiving yards or more.
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