JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Ways to describe the Bears defense early Sunday afternoon: Old. Outdated schematically. Fatigued. Out of its element.
Way to describe the Bears defense early Sunday evening: Dominating.
Go ahead, underestimate them some more.
"We're old, isn't that what you guys say?" defensive end Israel Idonije said with a smirk.
Well, actually, this is a grizzled, cunning gang that will ravage, maraud and pillage your sweet little doe-eyed offenses.
It's true the Jaguars offense, ranked 32nd coming in, is not the most dependable measuring stick. But holding any team to three points is significant. The Jaguars came in averaging more than two touchdowns. They put up 23 in a loss to the Vikings, who are looking more and more like the Bears' main concern in the NFC North.
And the Bears were being threatened by more than the Jaguars.
There was the heat. The short week. The temptation to look past an inferior opponent.
As the game went on, the stands at EverBank Field kept emptying, but the gas tank of the Bears defense did not. The Bears finished stronger than they started on a day when the needle hit triple figures on the field thermometer.
"I like it hot," said rookie defensive end Shea McClellin, who looked fresh enough to have played three games.
The Bears made the Jaguars look like they were the team from the North.
In the latter stages, the Bears defense had a little help kicking it into overdrive — from Mother Nature (the sun going down), from their brothers on offense (they held the ball for all but five plays in the third quarter) and from their head coach (Lovie Smith kept the heat coming with a blistering halftime speech).
"He basically cursed us out without cursing," cornerback Charles Tillman said. "He raised his voice and gave us that mean, surly, stern look. We responded to that. … He put a little spark under our rear end. We started playing."
If Smith put a spark under Tillman's rear end, Tillman breathed fire onto his teammates with an interception of Blaine Gabbert and a 36-yard return for a touchdown with 5:04 left in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Briggs did his Tillman impersonation, taking another Gabbert pass back 36 yards for a score.
The play was made possible by Brian Urlacher, who engulfed intended receiver Maurice Jones-Drew. The ball was tipped by Jones-Drew, and Briggs was the beneficiary. Old man turned on the afterburners again, this time creating separation from wide receiver Mike Thomas on his way to another touchdown.
It was the second time in a week Briggs and Tillman each scored on a pick-6 — a first for teammates in NFL history. The Bears have scored 35 points on takeaways in the last three weeks.
"Sometimes it's just how the ball rolls," Tillman said. "You get lucky. We've got some good karma going now."
The takeaways never would have happened Sunday if the Bears first didn't take care of the less glamorous business of stopping the run. The key to the game was smothering Jones-Drew, the NFL rushing king in 2011, like a lit cigarette butt.
Aside from one 27-yard run in the fourth quarter, Jones-Drew was held to 2.6 yards per run. On a first-and-10 in the first quarter, safety Major Wright shot into the backfield when the tight end blocked down, bringing down Jones-Drew for a loss of 2.
That's how the Bears defense rolled.
There were no surprises here. The Jaguars left no doubt they were going to run it, going with their jumbo package early in the game, playing a sixth offensive lineman in Guy Whimper on most first downs. "X-O," the Bears call it, as in an eXtra Offensive lineman.
The Bears countered by often cheating a safety down into the box, and their speed usually beat the Jags' muscle.
"We tried to force the quarterback to throw, and that wasn't their strength," safety Chris Conte said. "Jones-Drew is a great back, but when we put eight in the box, it's going to be hard to run against us. Even the best guys in the league I don't think can run against our eight-man front."
The Bears defense is doing more than beating up offenses now.
The Bears defense is strutting about it.
Twitter @danpompei
