LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- It sounds like the grace period is over.

More than six months have passed since Mike Martz brought his unique style of offense to town. In the beginning, the Bears were quick to preach patience when it came to players learning and understanding the new system. But with the season opener days away, the Bears know it's time to hit the ground running.

"We need to be together this week," Bears center Olin Kreutz said. "We have a game this week, it counts, so that's a fair time frame as I see it."

Bears quarterback Jay Cutler took it one step further, saying it's fair to expect the offense to click in "the first quarter" of Sunday's contest against Detroit.

"That's kind of the mentality out there, everybody is a little down on us," Cutler said. "We were a little bit disappointing last year, preseason wise offensively we haven't been as high-flying as we were predicted to be. That's fine. Under the radar isn't a bad thing.

"It is what it is. You can't get caught up in that or get distracted by what anybody is saying how good it is or how bad it is."

"We by no means think we are at our best yet," Kreutz added. "Hopefully we'll come out here Sunday and show you what we got."