Bears 29, Colts 13: Seriously? No, Really?

Well, THAT was unexpected.

The Bears went into Indianapolis last night, home of a perennial contender in the AFC, home of the team that beat them in the Super Bowl two seasons ago, home of freakin’ Peyton Manning for that matter, and inexplicably controlled the game throughout.

The defense, in a very pleasant surprise, showed nothing of the porous model we saw all preseason long. They held Joseph Addai to 44 yards and consistently rattled receivers. Although they didn’t get a tremendous amount of pressure on Manning, they did sack him on the 1-yard-line to set up a safety.

With Lance Briggs’ 21-yard fumble return for a touchdown, that was 9 points the defense scored all day –- more than they will allow against some teams, if they play like this all season long.

And Matt Forte burst on the scene. It wasn’t just his 50-yard touchdown run in the first quarter to give the Bears a lead many of us thought they would never have in this game. His tough running also converted four third downs, keeping drives alive to keep the dangerous Manning off the field. Between all that and his 123 rushing yards, he was rightfully named the Horse Trailer Player of the Game, or whatever the heck NBC calls its award (I love John Madden, but I don’t always really try to understand him).

Going into the season, I was hopeful that if the Bears could scratch out a 2-5 record by the break, they might have an outside shot at maybe going a respectable 8-8, with some soft games late in the schedule.

They’re halfway there after the first game. The Colts win raises expectations –- a bit. I’d still like to see the run defense in particular stay at this level, with Adrian Peterson careening around the NFC North.

Next up is the Carolina Panthers, another NFC team that went on the road and took down an AFC power (the Chargers). So what does it all mean? Is the winner of that game a team to beat in the NFC? Is the loser exposed as a fluke? And heck, why can't it be both?

I’m not going to get too terribly excited, even if they beat the Panthers. In 2002, the Bears started 2-0 with a couple surprise wins, on their way to a 4-12 disaster. And that was after a playoff year. But Sunday night the Bears defense looked like the classic Bears defense, and I am going to enjoy it while it lasts.