ESPN

While many are elevating Eli Manning into the ranks of the NFL's elite after his second Super Bowl victory on Sunday, Tony Dungy was comparing the New York Giants star with another quarterback who has battled critics throughout his career.

Dungy can see attributes in Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler that remind him of Manning. Like many Bears fans, Dungy can see Cutler achieve ultimate success if he's surrounded with the right weapons.

"You absolutely could ... and it doesn't have to be first round draft choices," Dungy said Monday on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000. "Victor Cruz was undrafted. Mario Manningham was a good player but not a great player. Jake Ballard kind of replaced Kevin Boss and he wasn't a household word.

"So, these receivers, if you get playmakers and they can come from anywhere ... So I do, I think it's a very good parallel with Jay and Eli."

In fact, Dungy believes the Bears aren't that far off from returning to Super Bowl contention.

"I think they're really close, and you look at the Giants and at Green Bay and this is sort of the blueprint for the decade we're in with the rule changes," Dungy said. "If you have a quarterback that can make big plays and a passing game that can click and make big plays for you, and if you can rush the passer, you're a Super Bowl contender.

"You don't have to be great in other areas. Now the Bears have a return game, they've got some other things that are good, they've got a great running back. If you look at it, these last two or three teams that have won, you get healthy and hot at the right now, you don't even have to have a great regular season record, but if you're healthy and you have a quarterback that can make plays, which the Bears do, and if you have pass rushers which the Bears do, if you're healthy you can win it. So I don't think they're that far away."

INDIANAPOLIS -- Make sure to add New York Giants' Super Bowl hero Mario Manningham to the notable list of unrestricted free agent wide receivers expected to be available when free agency begins on March 13.

Manningham, 25, saw his regular-season numbers drop off this past year due to the emergence of Victor Cruz, but the wideout came up big in the postseason. The Michigan product caught a touchdown in each of New York's three playoff victories leading up to the Super Bowl. Against New England, Manningham caught fire in the fourth quarter, hauling in four of his five catches, including an amazing 38-yard reception down the sideline that proved to be the most pivotal play of the game.

"I just go out and do my job," Manningham said. "I know that plays are going to come. You have to have a short-term memory playing wide receiver. Just take advantage of every ball that comes your way. I knew I had to freeze my feet when the ball touched my fingertips. Wherever I was at when the ball hit my fingertips, I just froze my feet and fell. I knew I was either going to get hit or hit the ground. I knew something was going to happen, but I knew that I couldn't let that ball go.

"Eli (Manning) just put the ball on the money. Great pass protection, great ball. I knew where I was on the sideline. I knew I didn't have that much room. Good thing I wear (shoe size) 11s, because if I wore 11.5s, I don't think I'd have been in."

Originally a third-round (95th pick overall) draft choice by the Giants in 2008, Manningham enjoyed modest success in his second campaign (57-822-5) before he set career-highs in 2010 with 60 receptions for 944 yards and nine touchdowns. While it's unlikely he would solve all the Bears' issues at receiver, Manningham would certainly upgrade a group that failed to have a single member crack 40 catches or 750 yards last year.

"You can't forget about him," Cruz said. "All these playoffs, he's been making great catches and great moments. It's just a credit to his professionalism and the way he's carried himself. He's somebody I look up to. He has some years in this league. I'm just happy for the guy. He's made some clutch catches and has great moves. He comes up big when we need him most."

INDIANAPOLIS -- The New York Giants' 21-17 victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI marked the second time Mark Anderson came up short in his quest for a championship ring. As a rookie in the 2006 regular season, Anderson was a key member of a Bears squad that lost Super Bowl XLI to Indianapolis in South Florida.

"I'm not really thinking about five years ago," Anderson said when asked to compare the pair of Super Bowl defeats. "I wanted to get the victory tonight. We were close, but not close enough. The Giants won so my hats off to them."

Anderson got off to fast start Sunday night. He recorded a sack against New York quarterback Eli Manning on the Giants' first offensive possession, and finished the game with a productive 1.5 sacks, 1 tackle for a loss and a pair of quarterback hits. But overall, the New England defense did not generate enough pressure, according to Anderson.

Manning was sacked just three times on 40 pass attempts, and was able to complete 5 of 6 passes for 76 yards on New York's game-winning drive at the end of the fourth quarter.

Compare that to Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who was either sacked or under duress during half of his dropbacks in the fourth quarter, and hit five times on the games final drive, per ESPN Stats & Information.

"We let them sneak away with that win right there," Anderson said. "The defense didn't stop them at the end, so I'll take the blame for that. I felt like I could have gotten more pressure. That's what I do; I pressure the quarterback to help the team out. I wish I could have got to him more often.

"We went over this all week. It's the same offense that we played earlier in the system. It's the same personnel, the same team, we knew we had to stop the run. But we needed to get after Eli more. That's my main thing. I wish we could have rushed a little better."

INDIANAPOLIS -- David Diehl is accustomed to rolling up his sleeves.

A veteran starter on the New York Giants' offensive line, Diehl embraces the hard-working, South Side mentality he inherited from his father, Jerry, a former milkman and beer vendor at old Comiskey Park. So it came as no surprise to witness the Chicago native roll up the sleeves of his game jersey Thursday morning at the Giants Super Bowl XLVI team hotel to show off two of his favorite tattoos: the Croatian shied and Chief Illiniwek.

"[The Chief] was my first tattoo I ever got," Diehl said.

Besides the ink on his upper right arm, Diehl pays homage to the retired school symbol whenever starting line-ups are announced during nationally televised game.

"David Diehl, University of Chief Illiniwek," he says.

"I've done that since my rookie year," Diehl said. "One time I think in the nine years I've played, the television station made me do from the University of Illinois because they made me record it. They forced me to do it. They told me you're not leaving the room until you record one of those. So I think it's been played one time.

"But I loved my five years I spent at the University of Illinois. The bonds, the people I met, the education I received...I can look back on those five years and say I wouldn't change anything about them. Being a guy from Chicago, staying in-state, that meant a lot to me. Winning a Big Tent title in 2001 and playing for coach [Ron] Turner...No. 1, playing for coach Turner gave me a huge boost going into the NFL and playing for the Giants my rookie year. For my five years at Illinois, I ran a pro offense, so when I got drafted by the Giants, I knew the entire offense. The only thing I had to do was switch terminology, which put me light years ahead of everybody else."

Diehl continues to be heavily involved in the Illinois football program. He donated a weight room to the program two years ago, and makes it a point to get to Champaign whenever possible.

"I'm especially excited about this upcoming season," Diehl said. "One of my fellow teammates, [former Bears assistant coach] Luke Butkus, took over as offensive line coach at Illinois. I'm happy he's back home and is going to do a great job for those guys."

The task now for Diehl turns to winning another Super Bowl ring. With Indianapolis being in such close proximity to Chicago, Diehl is able to be surrounded by his Chicago based family who made the short three-hour drive for Super Bowl week.

"It's great to do this Super Bowl so close to home. My family gets to experience it just as much as I do."

INDIANAPOLIS -- David Carr has some advice for the Chicago Bears: Spend money to sign a proven, veteran No. 2 quarterback in the offseason.

Carr, the former No. 1 overall pick of the 2002 NFL draft by the Houston Texans, now spends his days as the primary insurance policy behind quarterback Eli Manning in New York. After a 10-year pro career that has also included stops in Carolina and San Francisco, Carr believes he knows what it takes to be a successful second-string quarterback in the NFL: experience and practice reps.

"Look, I started almost 100 games (79), so I know what to expect when I go out on the field," Carr said Wednesday. "[Giants] coach [Tom] Coughlin has always been smart about keeping a veteran guy. Look at the situation the Cowboys got into a couple of years ago. Jon Kitna, now maybe his best days athletically were behind him, but it was like his 14th or 15th year. The guy knows what to expect. He's not seeing a defense on a Sunday that he hasn't seen before or already faced at some point in his career. There is a lot of value to veteran quarterbacks. Young guys are great to have, and great to develop, and that's where you find the talent to push on for the next decade. But when you are in a situation like that, it's better to have a guy who has been there before.

"You look at it as an insurance policy. You want to have one that's sound and has been in that situation before. As nice and as fancy as it is to get a strong-armed quarterback who has tremendous upside, there is something to be said for the Jon Kitnas of the world. I think the coaches realize that, I think general managers realize that and they start to see that. Like I said, it's great to have the young guys in there and eventually they can be starters in this league, but in situations like what came up in Chicago, you have to have a guy ready."

Being a reserve quarterback under former Bears offensive coordinator Mike Martz was tricky. Martz worked exclusively with starter Jay Cutler, virtually ignoring the other quarterbacks on the roster, until he was forced to watch tape with Caleb Hanie after Cutler broke his right thumb in November. Even then, Martz didn't have much time for Hanie outside of one private film session following Hanie's first start against Oakland. Further complicating matters was Martz's philosophy toward backup quarterbacks receiving legitimate practice reps.

Basically, the backup never got meaningful practice reps outside of the bye week. That's a big problem, according to Carr.

"Here as a backup it's a little bit easier just because, most of the time there is a real young guy taking the scout team reps or the defensive look reps, but coach Coughlin gives me every one of them," Carr said. "So I'm taking just as many snaps as Eli. Now, it's not the offense we are really running, but I try to translate it to our terminology. If I see the card, or see the play we are running, I try to switch it over to our language just so guys, who might play, who are in there with me will also get some reps.'

"When I was in San Francisco, I got zero reps all year as a backup quarterback. It's a tough situation, especially when you are asked to go into a game or start a football game when you haven't had a snap in three or four months.

"People can't imagine how hard that is."

Paging Jason Licht: New England won't make pro personnel director Jason Licht available to the media during Super Bowl week even though Licht was a finalist for the Bears general manager job. Licht was a no-show Tuesday at Super Bowl XLVI media day at Lucas Oil Stadium, then on Wednesday, a Patriots media relations director said Licht will not be made available the entire week.

INDIANAPOLIS -- When it became evident last offseason the Chicago Bears were prepared to move on without veteran punter Brad Maynard, the first name to emerge as a potential replacement was New York Jets free agent and University of Illinois product Steve Weatherford.

But when free agency kicked off after the NFL lockout ended, the Bears went in a different direction and signed Adam Podlesh, while Weatherford stayed in New York to punt and hold for the Giants.

"I'm good friends with [Bears kicker] Robbie Gould, and I had heard some rumors [that I was headed to the Bears]," Weatherford said Wednesday during Super Bowl XLVI media availability. "During the lockout, there was a lot of dead time for (the media), so there were a lot of stories that were kind of materialized out of nothing. To be honest with you, I didn't pay much attention to it. I had no idea what was going to go on in free agency, but I'm sure glad I landed here."

And the Bears are happy to have landed Podlesh, who made a seamless transition from kicking in relatively warm Jacksonville to cold Chicago. Weatherford posted career highs in average yards per punt (45.7) and net average (39.2), and made a clutch save on a bad snap for place kicker Lawrence Tynes in the NFC Championship Game.

It turned out to be a win-win situation for both franchises.

"Adam is a good friend of mine, and I was really happy to see him sign a multi-year deal up there," Weatherford said. "But I'm happier for me that I get to play in the Super Bowl."

INDIANAPOLIS -- A hot defensive coordinator candidate two offseasons ago, former Bears assistant Perry Fewell appeared destined to return to Chicago for reunion with Lovie Smith. The Bears, after all, were searching for a new defensive coordinator after Smith spent 2009 calling the defense while Bob Babich went back to coaching the linebackers. Fewell, an experienced NFL assistant and former interim head coach of the Buffalo Bills, seemed like a natural fit after coaching in Smith's defense during previous stops in Chicago and St. Louis.

Instead, Fewell went to New York and became Tom Coughlin's defensive coordinator. The rationale behind the decision, according to Fewell, was simple: Smith will always call the shots on defense in Chicago, not the person with the title of defensive coordinator.

"I loved coach Lovie Smith and enjoyed my time in Chicago, [but] I knew that was coach Smith's defense," Fewell said Tuesday at Super Bowl XLVI media day. "He is an excellent defensive coach....but I just thought at the time I probably needed to step out on my own and run my own defense.'

"It was always going to be coach Smith's defense, and if I was going to make my mark in coaching, I had to do it Perry Fewell's way. So that's really one of the main reasons I came to New York."

Fewell claims to be still be on good terms with Smith, who eventually promoted respected defensive line coach Rod Marinelli to the role of defensive coordinator.

"I still love coach Lovie Smith," Fewell said. "I owe him a lot for my success in coaching, some of the philosophies I've adopted. The structure of who were are and what we do, all of that is attributed to him.'

"But I knew coming into the situation [in New York] that we had a good front four. These guys, Jerry Reese who is our general manager, he likes to bring in good defensive ends. So I felt like that would be a good match for me."

INDIANAPOLIS -- The New York Giants' track record of success in the NFL draft is well documented since Marc Ross assumed the title of college scouting director in May 2007. Ross had a hand in selecting such core members of the 2011 NFC champions as wide receiver Hakeem Nicks, defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul and safety Kenny Phillips.

But that wasn't enough to earn Ross a second interview with the Bears for the general manager job that eventually went to Phil Emery.

"You have your credentials, you have your resume, you have your team, but I think it all comes down to who is the best fit for that team," Ross said Tuesday at Super Bowl XLVI media day. "So, of the three general manager [interviews] I've done (Chicago, Seattle, Indianapolis), each team has looked for a certain fit to fit their team, which goes beyond credentials.'

"Phil and I started the same year. I remember the first time I met him was at Howard University, standing in the endzone during two-a-days. Nice guy, always been a nice guy. Always respected him. Have always got a long with him."

Ross is generally portrayed in the NFL scouting community as an exceptionally bright individual. At age 27, he became the NFL's youngest scouting director with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2000. But even though Ross has been a professional talent evaluator since the late-1990s, there is a school of thought that perhaps his youth could potentially be a negative in the eyes of a team like the Bears, who opted to hire an older general manager with previous ties to the organization.

"I would think [age could work against you]," Ross said. "You got to take a stand [to] go out and [hire] a young guy, an up-and-coming guy who has just been in college [scouting]. Obviously, I think I have a lot of positive traits, but from the outside, I can see certain people not feeling comfortable with certain things that I may bring to the table, age being one of them. Again, it's all about the fit and what they are going to feel comfortable with hiring their general manager."

Ross was one of five people to interview for the Bears' general manager position, along with Emery, New England Patriots director of pro personnel Jason Licht, San Diego Chargers director of player personnel Jimmy Raye and former Bears director of player personnel Tim Ruskell. But of the five, it was Ross who seemed the generate the most buzz when the Bears released the list of candidates.

"I had friends in Chicago and had people who kept me abreast to what was going on," Ross said. "Of course, I would take it for what it's worth and laugh, because those people weren't the ones making the decision. But it was flattering to hear some of that stuff. My wife and I even had a little joke going about it. But at the end of it, I had to go interview and the Bears had to make their decision. Ted [Phillips] and those guys had to make the decision, not the fans."

INDIANAPOLIS -- The college scouting process if often referred to as an inexact science, and for good reason. You can find mistakes and misevaluations in every single NFL city over the past five years. The key for new Chicago Bears general manager Phil Emery will be to limit those mistakes, but at some point, the Bears are going to need some pure, old-fashioned luck.

That is exactly what happened to the New York Giants when they signed wide receiver Victor Cruz in 2010 as an undrafted rookie free agent out of Massachusetts. Remember, if the Giants were confident Cruz would turn into an elite receiver (82-1, 536-9) in less than two years, he would not have gone undrafted.

And rest of the league wasn’t beating down Cruz's door either. He wasn't even invited to the NFL Combine, ironically also held here in Indianapolis, the site of Super Bowl XLVI, prior to the 2010 NFL Draft.

"Being from a small school, I understand how that whole thing goes," Cruz said Monday. "I wasn’t 6-5, 220 pounds or I didn’t have off-the-wall statistics, so I understood how that whole thing goes. I’d rather be here for the Super Bowl now than the Combine.

"I wasn’t disappointed. I just knew whatever opportunities were in front of me, whether it be Pro Day, Combine, or whatever it was, I just had to make the best of it. I had two pro days. One was at Boston College and one up at UMass. I just did the best I could and was fortunate enough to open up some minds.”

Before last summer, it was rare for an undrafted rookie to earn a spot on the Bears 53-man roster under former general manager Jerry Angelo and head coach Lovie Smith. But that trend changed in 2011, when a handful of undrafted rookies (Dane Sanzenbacher, Kyle Adams, Dom DeCicco, Winston Venable and Mario Addison) broke camp with the club back in September.

Of course, none of those players made much of an impact. The Bears, under Angelo, have found starters in the later rounds (J'Marcus Webb, Lance Louis, etc.), but nobody who measures up to the type of impact Cruz made this year for the NFC Champion Giants.

First things first, the Bears need to master the top of the draft, a problem area under Angelo. But it's comforting to know that hidden gems like Cruz do exist. Now it's up to Emery and the Bears to find them every so often.

“I just think there are so many guys out there," Cruz said. "There are so many guys that you’re essentially just taking a chance on. Some guys just slip under the radar. Once those hidden gems kind of get figured out and somebody sees them and they get their opportunity to make the best of it, then it’s a great opportunity. It’s a great shot New York took. If they don’t, then it’s another one bites the dust.”

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- No doubt, the New York Giants housed the Chicago Bears here at New Meadowlands.

Yet despite the ugly 41-13 score, bumbling play from defense and special teams -- not to mention a few dropped balls by the receivers -- Chicago walked away from this game as victors by virtue of a strong performance from the highly-scrutinized offensive line.

That’s not how a defensive-minded coach mired in critical self analysis reconciles a loss like this one, despite it being a meaningless exhibition game. But based on this team’s recent history, this one small positive might just trump the myriad negatives.

“From time to time, you’re gonna have a bad night at the office,” Bears coach Lovie Smith said. “We had that tonight. Hopefully we won’t see many more.”

That’s the right thing to say. But let’s take a closer look at why what transpired on the offensive line Monday night -- if it continues -- should give the Bears an optimistic outlook about their prospects in 2011.

The fact is, despite horrid performances Monday night by the defense and special teams, we’ve seen the Bears shut down opposing offenses on a consistent basis, and we’ve seen the team’s special teams unit make game-changing plays in the return game and pin opponents with the coverage units like it’s second nature.

The Bears allowed the second-fewest rushing yards per game in 2010, and have forced the highest percentage of three-and-out drives (26.56 percent) in the NFL over the past six years, while the special teams group boasts a record-breaking return man in Devin Hester (14 total return touchdowns) and the NFL’s fifth-most accurate kicker of all time in Robbie Gould.

The offensive line, meanwhile, can’t claim such merits. But recent history says if it manages to limit opponents to only one sack per game, the Bears will be playing -- in the words of offensive line coach Mike Tice -- "winning football.”

“We needed to see the group take a step,” Smith said Monday night. “I thought we did that. I thought [quarterback] Jay [Cutler] put in a solid half as far as passing the ball.”

That’s what happens when the offensive line gives him time to find targets.

In 2010, the Bears gave up multiple sacks in all but three games. But in those three outings -- Week 2 against the Cowboys, Week 9 against the Bills, and Week 15 against the Vikings -- the offensive line surrendered only one sack.

It’s no coincidence the Bears won each of those games, averaging nearly 30 points (29.6) -- surely sufficient offensive output to give the defense cushion to carry home victories. What’s more is Cutler passed for eight touchdowns in those games -- including two three-TD performances -- while throwing only one interception.

Cutler’s lowest passer rating in those three outings -- 97.6 -- came, coincidentally, in the closest game of the three, a 22-19 victory over the Buffalo Bills.

So it’s simple: give the quarterback time. He’ll orchestrate fireworks.

That’s not really what happened Monday night against the Giants, but the one time Cutler led the Bears into the red zone, his receivers couldn’t make a play. On back-to-back snaps from the Giants 5 in the first quarter, Devin Hester fell down on a route in the end zone, and was unable to come up with a seemingly catchable ball on the very next play.

Receivers dropped at least four Cutler passes in the first half.

“The thing we’ve got to work on is our red zone [offense],” running back Matt Forte said. “We got to the goal line a couple of times and didn’t finish. So that’s obviously something we need to work on, too.”

At least for one night, the Bears established the foundation up front conducive to producing sustained success on offense.

So given the Chicago’s rich history on defense and special teams under Smith and special-teams coordinator Dave Toub, it’s important to not put too much stock into those groups performing badly, because past performances indicate Monday night was an aberration.

“I guess I better stop and go to something else,” Smith said after criticizing the defense and special teams. “I can keep talking about how we played defensively; special-teams wise, same thing. Defensively [and] special teams, I just didn’t think we played the way we normally do.”

The offensive line didn’t either.

That’s a good thing.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The Chicago Bears made a concerted effort to take a long look at several new faces on special teams Monday night. But there were very few highlights from the third phase, which at times appeared shaky and confused.

The worst moment came in the second quarter when New York's Greg Jones came free up the gut and blocked a punt attempt by Spencer Lanning. The Giants got the ball on the Bears' 6-yard line and punched it in the end zone two plays later.

Rookie linebacker Dom DeCicco took responsibility for the mistake in the postgame locker room.

"That blocked punt really hurt the team and was 100 percent my fault," DeCicco said. "That really was not a good thing. Hopefully, I can learn from my mistake. I just have to keep playing hard, get better and hopefully redeem myself next week.

"My guy was holding me up the whole time, and I tried getting out of it fast, and Jones happened to be coming [up the middle] at that time. It was a bad mistake, and it really cost us."

However, DeCicco wasn't the only one guilty of poor play on special teams. The Bears allowed a 73-yard kickoff return to Devin Thomas when a New York blocker cleared out D.J. Moore, which gave Thomas a wide open running lane down the right hash. Dave Toub's group also failed to muster much of a return game themselves. Thanks to solid punting by Giants kickers Matt Dodge and Steve Weatherford, Johnny Knox averaged just 7.5 yards on a pair of punt returns. Knox faired a little better on kickoff returning, taking one back 45 yards.

It should be pointed the Bears were missing a couple of special teams regulars Monday night -- Zack Bowman and Corey Wootton were out, while Brian Iwuh started at weak side linebacker in place of Lance Briggs -- but several core members of the unit were present and accounted for.

Bears assistant coaches are off limits to the media following games, but no doubt Toub will have plenty to say when the group reconvenes at Halas Hall in the middle of the week.

ESPNChicago.com's Jeff Dickerson and Michael Wright recap the Bears' 41-13 loss to the Giants.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- After criticizing the defense in a post-game press conference, Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith seemingly hit the repeat button explaining the injury situation Monday night after the team’s 41-13 loss to the New York Giants.

“Injury-wise, we don’t have any,” Smith said. “Of course, you’ve got to tackle a little bit better before you start talking injuries.”

Usually optimistic and hesitant to criticize the defense (especially in a meaningless preseason game), Smith came down hard on the unit which played without starting linebacker Lance Briggs, and defensive tackle Anthony Adams.

In 2010, the Bears held opponents to the second lowest rushing average in 2010 (90.1 yards per game), and finished seventh in the NFL with 48 stuffs, which are tackles on rushers for negative yards.

Against the Giants, though, the Bears missed several tackles, allowed 218 yards rushing -- including a 97-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter by Da’Rel Scott -- and failed to generate a sack or a turnover. It’s telling when the top five tacklers -- Corey Graham, Craig Steltz, D.J. Moore, Chris Harris, and Tim Jennings -- are defensive backs, which likely means that too often, ball carriers made it into the secondary.

Giants running back Brandon Jacobs averaged 8 yards per carry in the first half, and at 6 foot 4 and 264 pounds, managed to put a move on Major Wright (5-11, 204) so significant that it made the safety fall to the turf on an 18-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

“A lot of negative things to talk about, unfortunately,” Smith said. “Defensively, we haven’t played a game like that in a while. We pride ourselves on great third-down defense. We had two third-and-long situations that they converted on and made the touchdowns. Takeaways, we didn’t have any. At the end, it doesn’t matter who is out there. If you have on a Chicago Bar uniform, you need to make the play.”

The defense definitely didn’t do that in allowing a total of 414 yards and 25 first downs.

“It’s not what we wanted, but at the same time, you don’t get to use all your weapons, all your calls, all your situations,” defensive tackle Henry Melton said. “But at the end of the day, you still want to outperform the other people.”

That certainly didn’t occur here at the New Meadowlands on Monday night.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Please excuse the delay in starting this column, but officials are still reviewing the final score ...

The final determination, a 41-13 preseason drubbing of the Chicago Bears by the New York Giants Monday night, was as painful as it sounds. But because this is the preseason, and because the Bears went 0-4 in the exhibition round last year and still made it to the NFC Championship game, and because quarterback Jay Cutler says it's so, we won't overreact to the worst preseason loss since the Dave Wannstedt era.

Read the entire column.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- One half, one sack; that’s the operative stat to chew on after the Bears fell 41-13 against the New York Giants on Monday night.

Under heavy scrutiny coming into the game after last year’s regular-season debacle against the Giants (nine sacks in one half) and a shaky preseason opener against the Buffalo Bills in which it gave up nine sacks, Chicago’s offensive line held its own against one of the NFL’s better pass rushes, allowing only one sack in a half of action.

“The offensive line got better. We completed some passes, got some first downs, got the receivers involved,” quarterback Jay Cutler said. “We need to get the running game a lit bit more involved but we made some strides.”

The Bears ran the ball just eight times, while passing on 22 occasions. But the progress in pass blocking should give the Bears optimism about the prospects for adequately protecting Cutler in the regular season.

Not only did Cutler suffer just one sack -- a play in which he probably could’ve gotten rid of the ball -- the offensive line didn’t allow much in the way of Giants pressure. Cutler confidently stepped into the pocket to complete 12 of 21 for 171 yards in two quarters, and was hit only once by Justin Tuck in the process of throwing.

The offensive line also played clean football for the most part. Twice officials called the tackles -- J'Marcus Webb and rookie Gabe Carimi -- for false-start penalties, and tight end Kellen Davis committed one holding penalty on a running play.

“Obviously this next game is our third preseason game. We’ve got to get better and better,” Cutler said. “We just need to take a look at this film and see what we did wrong. I thought we did a lot of good things tonight. There is room for improvement always, but overall I’ve got a good feeling about where we are heading.”

What it means: The Bears can devote more time to the current lineup along the offensive line that features Roberto Garza, Lance Louis, Webb, and Carimi, and allow them to gain even more cohesion instead of blowing things up and starting anew.

Coming into the game, offensive line coach Mike Tice -- depending on how the unit performed -- was considering making changes along the line. Now he likely won’t have to, as the club heads into Saturday’s game at Tennessee. Sticking with the same lineup should help them to develop even more as the regular season approaches.

Gholston not golden: Former first-round pick Vernon Gholston obviously isn’t making much of an impact with the Bears, judging from the way the club used him in the rotation against the Giants.

Perhaps it’s reading too much into the situation, but we certainly took notice of the fact the Bears inserted Nick Reed into the lineup early in the second quarter as Gholston remained on the sidelines. A former seventh-round pick by the Seattle Seahawks in 2009, Reed has been somewhat of a journeyman after finishing a college career at Oregon in which he posted a school-record 29.5 sacks (also fourth in Pac-10 annals).

Gholston, meanwhile, produced his best practice of training camp last week. But it’s obvious he’ll have a tough time cracking the team’s defensive line rotation. Minutes after Reed took snaps, the Bears inserted undrafted rookie Mario Addison as Gholston remained on the sidelines.

Special teams struggle: Bears special teams coordinator Dave Toub typically field’s one of the NFL’s best units. But that wasn’t the case Monday night, when Chicago’s special-team’s unit played a direct result in 14 of the Giants’ 20 first-half points.

The Bears coverage team allowed Devin Thomas to return a kickoff 73 yards with 1:32 left in the first quarter. Four plays later, the Giants scored on an 18-yard run by Brandon Jacobs.

Later in the quarter, undrafted rookie Dom DeCicco missed a blocking assignment, causing Spencer Lanning’s punt attempt to be blocked by Greg Jones deep in Chicago territory. Two plays later, Giants backup quarterback David Carr hit Domenik Hixon for a 5-yard touchdown.

Interestingly, Chicago’s special-teams unit struggled last preseason, too. A major part of the problem is the team is constantly shuffling in different personnel in an attempt to evaluate large groups of players. The constant shuffling leads to inconsistency in blocking and on the coverage teams.

Dropped balls: Cutler’s first-half numbers probably should have been better, but his receivers dropped four passes in the first half.

Roy Williams dropped two (one was originally ruled a catch, but called incomplete after a booth review; the other sailed through his hands on a slant route), Devin Hester dropped one, and tight end Kellen Davis dropped another.

Rush D run over: All the reaching, grabbing, bumbling and missing on Brandon Jacob’s 18-yard touchdown run in the second quarter seemed typical of Chicago’s day on defense --horrid. Jacobs averaged 8 yards per carry on Chicago’s proud run defense, and on the TD run, he juked free safety Major Wright -- causing him to fall down -- before carrying strong safety Chris Harris around his waist into the end zone.

The majority of the starting defense played a half, and held the Giants to 33 percent on third-down conversions, while allowing 157 yards total.

What’s next: The Bears hit the road and face the Titans on Saturday in what’s widely billed around the league as somewhat of a dress rehearsal. In this game, the Bears starters typically see their most extensive action of the preseason.

So this outing gives the team yet another opportunity to make strides and critical evaluations along the offensive line.