ESPN

Chicago Bears coach Marc Trestman warned his team just before it came out to the field Sunday that the Minnesota Vikings would throw the first punch, but the most important thing would be how the club responded.

“[Trestman] warned us before the game before we came out, ‘Get ready for them to strike first,’” Bears quarterback Jay Cutler said Monday during “The Jay Cutler Show” on ESPN 1000. “[The Vikings were] coming off a tough loss the first game. We knew we were gonna get their best punch. They didn’t want to go down 0-2. He warned us. He called it. He said get ready for these guys to come out and strike first. It’s gonna depend on how we answered back, and we did.”

Vikings rookie receiver Cordarrelle Patterson took the game’s opening kickoff and returned it 105 yards for a touchdown to put the visitors ahead 7-0 after Blair Walsh’s extra-point kick just 13 seconds into the game. Chicago responded on the ensuing kickoff with a 76-yard return from Devin Hester to set up the Bears at the Minnesota 32.

Five plays later, Cutler connected with Martellus Bennett for a 1-yard touchdown.

So Trestman’s pregame words proved prophetic.

“I don’t know that it was prophetic because it was just a kick return. But they did strike first, and it was great to see how our guys responded,” Trestman said. “I think I was trying to just break the game down to what it was gonna be. They’re coming in here, they had a tough loss in Detroit, and they’re trying to find a way to strike first. You have to anticipate that. You can underestimate that sometimes. I just thought it was the thing to say at the time, that it could have happened anywhere. It could have happened with a play-action pass because our overemphasis on stopping the run. It could happen in the kicking game with some kind of aggressive play. It could happen defensively with some kind of oddball blitz that happens early that we don’t prepare for. So that’s all. It was just a sign of a team that was trying to find a possession, or trying to find something to gain an edge early.”

The Vikings did just that, but as Trestman correctly predicted, the Bears bounced back. With two consecutive come-from-behind victories to start the season, linebacker Lance Briggs said the team is creating a “clutch” identity, that “when the chips are down, some Bear is going to make a play.”

Bennett considers the team’s comebacks a microcosm of real life.

“Things never really go the way you want them to go in life; never goes as planned,” Bennett said on “The Jay Cutler Show.” “So the only thing you can do is pick yourself up and keep going. That’s kind of the approach I take with the offense. It’s never gonna go the way we planned or the way we draw it up on paper because those guys get paid millions of dollars to keep us from doing it correctly. I think we just have a bunch of guys that just never quit and keep playing.”

CHICAGO -- A fresh start and a renewed focus, combined with lessons learned, have created a perfect storm that has allowed new Chicago Bears tight end Martellus Bennett to thrive in the early going.

Bennett, who signed a four-year deal with the Bears this past offseason, already has 10 catches for 125 yards and three touchdowns in two games, including the game-winning score in Sunday’s 31-30 victory over the Minnesota Vikings.

After playing four seasons in Dallas and last season with the New York Giants, the Texas A&M product said Monday that only now does he have all the tools needed to have true, sustained success at the NFL level.

“Being behind [tight end Jason] Witten [in Dallas], I learned a whole lot of stuff I didn’t even realize I was learning because I watched and took notes on every single thing he was doing but really didn’t have a chance to use it,” said Bennett, who was a guest Monday on ESPN 1000’s “The Jay Cutler Show.”

“Going to New York, I had a chance to take three-year deals in different places, but I decided to bet on myself and take the one-year deal because I felt like I was worth more than they were offering me.”

With the Giants, he hooked up with tight end coach Michael Pope and delivered his best season, with 55 receptions for 626 yards and 5 touchdowns. Calling himself “a sponge” over the past couple of seasons because of all the learning he was doing, he is now unleashing that knowledge.

“I’m really starting to understand what goes in to playing football,” Bennett said. “A lot of times, I used to put the cart before the horse, so to speak. I’m involved in a lot of things, and when things don’t go your way on the field, you can easily put more into those other things you’re interested in.”

He now says he has understanding of how to prioritize outside interests to go along with football, while also learning the benefits of eating right.

“Today’s my day when I can have a Shirley Temple and I can eat chicken tenders and french fries,” Bennett said. “Tuesday is back to healthy. I can have a piece of cake right now, but then it goes back to my regular routine. So I develop a routine with my study habits and listening. I think my listening skills have improved. My wife would probably agree. My listening skills are off the radar right now, so I’ve become a great listener and not a talker.”

Bennett has always been known for his gift of gab, but it’s all about his play on the field now. His friendship with wide receiver Brandon Marshall hasn’t hurt things.

“Yeah, it’s fun,” Cutler said. “They kind of push each other out there. We all can’t be on every single day, so it’s between us two and [Marshall, Matt Forte], Alshon [Jeffery], Earl [Bennett]. All of us are in this thing together. We have to have all those guys going.

“I can’t run around without those guys. I need them at full speed on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. They’re all pushing each other trying to get better and better. It’s a really good group. I think any quarterback in the league would like to have the horses I have on the outside.”

CHICAGO -- After just two games, the Chicago Bears' revamped offensive line has performed so well that quarterback Jay Cutler no longer is seeing ghosts.

Four new members of the line, not to mention two rookies on the right side, could have been a recipe for disaster, but so far it has been good enough to allow Cutler to pass for 532 yards and five touchdowns in the Bears' 2-0 start.

"The hardest thing right now is stepping in the pocket and not seeing ghosts because these guys are doing such a fabulous job protecting," Cutler said Monday on ESPN 1000's weekly "The Jay Cutler Show." "It's just getting used to being able to take my steps, take my appropriate drop and step up and go through all my reads. It's a good problem to have, but it's still something I have to get used to with these new guys."

It wasn't a problem last season, when the offensive line included guys like J'Marcus Webb, Gabe Carimi, Lance Louis and Chris Spencer.

When protection goes bad, quarterbacks can often feel pressure that's not there. At its worst, it can result in phantom sacks -- when the quarterback crumples simply expecting to get hit. Cutler seems to be moving as far away from that stage as he ever has.

"I think we do a good job of protecting me early in the game so I can get that trust level and can feel protected in there," Cutler said. "But the more I watch film, and the more I'm (playing) with these guys, they are doing everything they can to protect me, and I just have to do my job back there and deliver the ball for them because they're fighting their (tails) off."

As rookies Kyle Long and Jordan Mills hold their own on the right side, they are also gaining a respect for the guy they are protecting.

"He's so cool," Long said about Cutler following Sunday's 31-30 victory over the Vikings. "I wish I was as cool as Jay Cutler. I was all fired up, and Jay, his heart was going two beats a minute like nothing was going on. He does a great job. He's our leader on the offensive side of the ball and we'll follow him to the promised land. Today it was the end zone."

The typically unfazed Cutler said it's all in a day's work.

"I've got to have a sense of calm in the huddle," Cutler said. "If I was going crazy and all frantic, the guys will do the same. As long as I'm calm and have everything under control, that will perpetuate to the rest of the guys and they will be calm as well."

LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- The staff sent Chicago Bears defensive end Julius Peppers home last week due to him exhibiting flu-like symptoms, but apparently he hadn’t fully recovered by Sunday when the team defeated the Minnesota Vikings 31-30.

Peppers came into the matchup with only one tackle and no sacks on the season, and contributed only one more tackle against Minnesota as the club struggled to consistently apply pressure on Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder.

“He was not healthy yesterday, probably sicker yesterday than he was the previous days,” Bears coach Marc Trestman said. “He tried. He wouldn’t say it, but in his defense, I don’t know that he had the energy to play as hard as he possibly could play.”

Peppers restructured his contract on Sept. 3 to create more salary-cap room for the team by converting $3 million of his base salary of $12.9 million into a signing bonus, which knocked his base salary in 2013 to $9.9 million. That move created $2 million in cap space for the Bears, and reduced his cap charge from $16.387 million this season to $14.387 million.

But in the final two years of Peppers’ deal, his cap numbers rise. In 2014, Peppers’ cap number grows from $17.183 million to $18.183 million. In 2015, Peppers’ cap number grows to $20.683 million.

Peppers has racked up 30.5 sacks in three seasons with the Bears, including back-to-back years in which he’s contributed 11 sacks or more. It’s still too early in the season to predict a decline for Peppers, but through the first two games, the contributions (two tackles) haven’t been up to the defensive end’s standards.

Through the first two games of last season, Peppers had already tallied two sacks.

“He was involved, ran some plays down (against the Vikings),” Trestman said. “But overall, he wasn’t getting better at the time. He didn’t look well to me this morning when I saw him in the meeting. He’s not going to admit it.”

Said teammate Lance Briggs, "No, I’m not concerned. He missed a lot of practice last week because he’s been really sick and under the weather. One thing I’m not worried about is Julius Peppers.”

LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Chicago Bears tight end Martellus Bennett revealed Sunday he’s playing with a shoulder injury, but coach Marc Trestman said Monday that he’s “scheduled to play this week.”

“He was negative in terms of his… he had a bruise, but nothing significant,” Trestman said. “He had a full range of motion today.”

Bennett caught nine passes for 76 yards and a career-high two touchdowns, including the game-winning score from 16 yards out with just 10 seconds left in the game. Bennett caught a 23-yard pass three plays before the game winner, and shook Vikings linebacker Erin Henderson to gain extra yardage.

Bennett sustained the injury in the second quarter, and said, “probably so” when asked whether he expected the shoulder to be an issue as the season progresses.

“It was an issue today,” Bennett said. "But I was still able to play. There’s nothing I can do about it. If it hurts, it hurts. If it doesn’t, that’s a great thing.”

Through two games, Bennett ranks as the club’s third-leading receiver behind Brandon Marshall and Matt Forte, with 10 catches for 125 yards and three touchdowns. By comparison, 2012 starting tight end Kellen Davis finished all of last season with 19 catches for 229 yards and two TDs.

Bennett’s 76 yards ranked as the third-best receiving day of his career, and his seven catches tied a career-high set on Sept. 19, interestingly, against the Bears. Having caught touchdown passes through the first two games, Bennett is the first Bears tight end to haul in TD receptions in each of the first two games since Earl Thomas in 1972.

“We’re fortunate to come out of this thing in two games,” Trestman said. “We’re relatively healthy, which is a good thing going on the road next week.”

An examination of four hot issues from the Bears’ 31-30 win over the Vikings:

Cutler’s comebacks: In crunch time, Jay Cutler has been more composed than in past performances, which is why he was able to recover from three turnovers and rally the team for the second consecutive week. Cutler believes in the system and the coaches, and that’s paid dividends. It’s also a reason the normally fiery Cutler, according to teammates, has been the calmest player in the huddle during critical situations.

On the sideline, Cutler’s sounding board is quarterbacks coach Matt Cavanaugh.

“Nothing really rattles him,” Cutler said. “He just taps the bench and says come over and sit down. We talk it out. If I’ve got to vent, he lets me get it off my chest and moves straight to the pictures. He’s a calming influence.”

Pass rush still lacking: The Bears forced three turnovers, which is pretty standard for the defense, but the club still hasn’t generated consistent pressure on opposing quarterbacks. The Bears go into Week 3 with just two sacks. At this point last season, the team had racked up eight.

“Early on last year, we started off with a bunch more sacks,” defensive end Corey Wootton said. “I don’t think we played up to our caliber with the arsenal we have up front.”

The front four’s highest-paid defenders, Julius Peppers and Henry Melton, have combined for five tackles with zero sacks. With them earning a combined $18.35 million in base salary this season, they’re making a combined $458,750 per tackle so far, by my math.

Dual-threat Forte: Matt Forte touched the ball 30 times and finished with 161 yards from scrimmage, way above his average of 102 yards per game going into the season. Forte has recorded 150 yards or more from scrimmage in 13 career games.

What’s more, Cutler targeted Forte more than go-to receiver Brandon Marshall for the first time since last season’s Week 2 loss at Green Bay. The change stems from the way the club now deploys Forte in the passing game, and provides Cutler another weapon when teams take away options such as Marshall, Alshon Jeffery and Martellus Bennett.

“We’ve got some guys that want the ball,” Cutler said. “Whenever we give them opportunities, they make plays.”

Cracks in special teams: Cordarrelle Patterson’s 105-yard TD return on the opening kickoff marked the first time the Bears gave up a kickoff-return touchdown since Sept. 30, 2007, against Detroit. Although the Bears immediately responded with a 76-yard return by Devin Hester, there appear to be weaknesses in Chicago’s coverage units.

“I saw a big hole. No way I could’ve missed it,” Patterson said.

In the opener, the punt-coverage unit surrendered a 50-yard return by Adam Jones on the team’s first punt of the day, but it was nullified by an illegal block above the waist.

“It’s hard to be minus-2 in turnovers and get a kick return for a touchdown and win the game,” Bears coach Marc Trestman said.

Here are some Bears Essentials coming out of Chicago's 31-30 win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday at Soldier Field. The Bears have put together consecutive come-from-behind victories thanks to clutch play from quarterback Jay Cutler:

-- ESPNChicago.com's Jon Greenberg delves into Cutler's performance during Sunday's comeback. Coming into the game, the Bears were 1-7 when Cutler committed three or more turnovers, with the lone victory coming against Carolina last season on a late comeback.

Against the Vikings, Cutler shook off two interceptions and a fumble to bring back the Bears in the final 3:13.

Here's what Greenberg wrote:

"Not counting a spike to stop the clock, Mr. Fourth Quarter went 7-for-9 for 76 yards on the Bears' game-winning drive, highlighted by a 16-yard touchdown pass to tight end Martellus Bennett, who made a twisting catch and tucked himself in the pylon for the winning score with 10 seconds left."

-- Fans were pretty angry about some of the technical difficulties during Fox’s broadcast of Sunday’s game. Apparently 10 percent of the country was affected.

-- ESPNChicago.com's Jeff Dickerson runs down five things we learned from this game.

Rick Morrissey gives his take on Cutler’s growing legend. Brandon Marshall called Cutler “Mr. Fourth Quarter” after Sunday’s game, but the Bears are actually 7-23 with the quarterback when they trail or are tied going into the fourth quarter.

-- Dickerson hands out grades on the team’s performance here.

-- Cutler believes in the coaching staff and the system more now than he did in previous years, writes CSNChicago’s John “Moon” Mullin.

CHICAGO – Here are five things we learned in the Chicago Bears’ 31-30 win over the Minnesota Vikings:

1. Jay Cutler led in crunch time. Cutler made his share of mistakes on Sunday, but he managed to shake them off and guide the Bears 66 yards down the field in 3:05 to score the game-winning touchdown on a 16-yard pass to tight end Martellus Bennett. Cutler went 7 for 10 on the drive, but keep in mind he had to spike the ball to kill the clock and that his first pass of the drive bounced off an official standing in the middle of the field in front of intended target Alshon Jeffery (another incomplete pass to Jeffery got wiped out by a holding penalty). This is why the Bears traded for Cutler four years ago: to win games. When the chips were down, the quarterback stayed calm, put the team on his shoulders and led them to a come-from-behind victory in the closing minutes of an important game. What an encouraging start to the season for Cutler in a contract year.

2. Turnovers keep inferior teams in games. Now for the bad part: The Bears almost handed the game to Minnesota -- literally. It’s hard to win when a team commits four turnovers. The Bears were able to survive versus the Vikings, but next time they probably won’t be so lucky. In the span of a little more than three minutes in the second quarter, Cutler was sacked and fumbled the ball, which Minnesota returned for a touchdown, and threw an interception in the end zone on first-and-goal from the Vikings’ 1-yard line that killed a prime scoring chance. Cutler later tossed a pick on a deep ball to Brandon Marshall, and Matt Forte had the ball ripped away at the end of a run. Both of those turnovers came in the fourth quarter. Throw in a special-teams breakdown on Cordarrelle Patterson’s 105-yard touchdown return on the opening kickoff, and the Bears have plenty of mistakes to correct going into their Week 3 game at Pittsburgh. That should prevent the team from feeling too good about themselves this week in practice.

3. Devin Hester is again ridiculous. People snickered at the positive reviews Hester received from observers during training camp, but even the most anti-Hester fans have to admit he ran with a purpose on Sunday, returning five kickoffs for a career-high 249 yards, with long runs of 76 and 80 yards. The decision to limit Hester to strictly special teams was a brilliant one. He has fresh legs. That’s been obvious since the preseason. But the most important thing with Hester is always his confidence. Ever since he got over the whole ‘I want to retire’ drama at the end of last season, Hester has been walking tall with his head held high. When Hester feels good about himself, he’s dangerous. Don’t be surprised to see his success in the return game snowball over the next couple of weeks. That’s how it goes with Hester.

4. Defense is still searching for an identity. The Bears continue to take the ball away on defense, which is good, but they are simply not generating enough pressure up front. Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder attempted 30 passes and was sacked just once. That’s not good enough. For the second straight week, Pro Bowl defensive linemen Julius Peppers and Henry Melton were non-factors, with a combined three tackles (before the coaches review the film). What’s going on up front? Overall, the Bears surrendered six plays of 20-plus yards against Minnesota after being torched repeatedly by Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green in Week 1. To be fair, the Vikings scored 14 points on Sunday on a fumble return and a kickoff return. But I think we would all agree the defense looks very un-Bears-like to open the regular season.

5. Ponder better than expected. Ponder is still the fourth-best quarterback in the NFC North, but he deserves some credit for almost leading the Vikings to their first win in Chicago since 2007. Ponder completed some key throws late to finish with 227 passing yards, one touchdown and one interception, while also showing no fear running with the football. He took a heck of a hit from Bears linebacker James Anderson near the home team’s sideline in the second half, but at no point did Ponder shy away from the contact. Minnesota is still 0-2 and in deep trouble already with two loses to NFC North teams, but I don’t think Vikings fans will be clamoring for Matt Cassel to start anytime soon. Or at least they shouldn’t be.

CHICAGO -- For two weeks in a row as the Chicago Bears prepared to take the field, defensive coordinator Mel Tucker told quarterback Jay Cutler, “We’ve got your back,” and in the end, the unit did despite a sometimes shaky performance Sunday during a 31-30 comeback win over the Minnesota Vikings.

“When it comes time for the defense to make a stop or the defense to get a turnover, they do,” Cutler said.

Still, the defense isn't performing at a level it wants to be, but what it did against Minnesota was actually better than things looked. Although the Vikings scored 21 points in the first half, Chicago’s defense was responsible for only one touchdown -- a 20-yard touchdown pass from Christian Ponder to Kyle Rudolph -- because the other two touchdowns came on special teams (a Cordarrelle Patterson kickoff return) and Brian Robison's return of a Cutler fumble.

In the second half, the Bears allowed just nine points on three consecutive possessions, with all three field goals coming from 28 yards out or nearer, meaning the defense tightened up in the red zone.

“I don’t care how we win them,” cornerback Charles Tillman said. “It still counts as a win, and I’m very appreciative of that. It was a pound-for-pound, blow-for-blow heavyweight battle. They had some plays. We had some plans, and the momentum kept shifting back and forth.”

The defense bailed out Cutler when he threw an interception in the end zone during the second quarter with a Tim Jennings 44-yard interception return for a touchdown. The defense saved the offense again in the fourth quarter with the Bears trailing 27-24, when Matt Forte was stripped by Letroy Guion.

“On the pick [I threw] in the end zone, they turn around and pick-six [by Jennings],” Cutler said. “Then at the end, whenever we fumbled, they got a stop down at the goal line.”

Instead of allowing Minnesota to score a touchdown to put away the game by making the score 34-24 with approximately three minutes remaining, the Bears surrendered just two yards on three plays run from their 6 to force the Vikings to settle for a Blair Walsh 22-yard field goal, which made the score 30-24 with 3:17 left to play.

“That right there was what hurt the most,” Vikings running back Adrian Peterson said. “Being in the red zone and having to settle for three. In those situations offensively, we have to come through and make a big play. We weren’t able to do that today. We do that, we win.”

They didn’t, and lost. Chicago’s defense definitely played a role in that.

Peterson rushed for 100 yards on 26 attempts, but if you subtract the 36-yard run he broke in the second quarter, the running back averaged 2.5 yards on the other 25 carries.

“I think anytime you came out of a game with a win, you did good enough,” middle linebacker James Anderson said. “I don’t think we played it perfect. We’ve got some things we’ve got to correct. We’re improving. We had a good start last week. This week, we took some steps.”

The defense needs to take more. Minnesota converted 44 percent of third downs, and finished 2-for-2 on fourth-down conversions. Although Chicago’s front seven pressured the quarterback at times, it dropped Ponder just once, and he was still able to make several plays with his feet.

“We’re still trying to figure it out. It’s a long year. It’s still early,” Jennings said. “Of course I hate that it seems that we keep letting them (score) 30 points, whatever we gave up last week. It’s too many points. We can just go out there and create the turnovers that we’re able to create, give our offense back the ball, and try to go out each and every week during the week of practice getting better. We’re still trying to figure it out.”

CHICAGO – As if Devin Hester needed any extra motivation on Sunday, the three-time Pro Bowl return man seethed with anger on the Chicago Bears’ sideline as Minnesota rookie Cordarrelle Patterson returned the game’s opening kickoff 105 yards for a touchdown.

“Man, it [ticked] me off,” Hester said. “It [ticked] me off to have someone come into our home turf and to take one to the house. Ooh, it [ticked] me off. I was so [ticked] before the kickoff, I was praying, ‘Please, I don’t care how deep the guy kicks it I’m bringing it out.’ That’s the mentality I took. I told my guys out there we’re not going to get punched in the mouth like that and just fall over and back down. If he kicks it 9 yards deep [in the end zone], especially after they take one to the house, we coming out. So, don’t expect me to take a knee.”

Patterson’s early heroics lit a fire under Hester, who entered Week 2 with four return scores in 13 career games against the Vikings. Hester responded with a 76-yard return of his own on the ensuing kickoff to set up the Bears’ first scoring drive of the afternoon. He finished with five kickoff returns for a career-high 249 yards, eclipsing the 225 yards he had on kickoff returns against St. Louis in his rookie season of 2006.

But Hester’s best moment in the Bears’ 31-30 victory occurred in the second quarter when he fielded the ball 3 yards deep in the end zone and proceeded to run it back 80 yards to the Minnesota 23. The 76- and 80-yard returns were Hester’s longest kickoff returns since he ran one back 98 yards for a touchdown on Oct. 16, 2011, against the Vikings.

“I think they were kind of cheating [on the 80-yard return],” Hester said. “Their [primary tacklers on kickoff coverage] weren’t coming down and trying to make the tackles, they were kind of just playing contain and sitting around the 40- or 45-yard line just waiting to cut off the angle on me. That’s a good plan, a very smart call by their special-teams coach. We just have to make sure we make plays when that happens.”

Hester acknowledged the wet conditions at Soldier Field on Sunday also were a factor in his success.

“I think the weather played a big role in what happened today,” Hester said. “It was a rainy day and the ball was a little heavy, so it kind of prevented a lot of touchbacks. We knew it was going to be a run-and-attack day with the rain. We knew the special teams were going to have to play a big factor in this game, and that’s what we did. We stepped up and made plays.

"I was just happy they kicked it to me. Whenever you get an opportunity to get your hands on the ball, even if it’s a nice kick and you have to bring it out, it gives me an opportunity to make plays."