Defense can’t rest for Bears to win

CHICAGO —  There are two long-term assumptions around here: a pizza should be topped with sausage and a football game should be won with defense.

Offensive firepower is for wimpy teams that play in domes, such as the Colts or the Rams. If you play exposed to the elements, you’d better play defense.

By far the most popular football jersey worn around town is linebacker Brian Urlacher’s No. 54. Of the seven Bears heading to the Pro Bowl, only one, offensive lineman Olin Kreutz, isn’t a member of the defense or special teams.

So the joy here over the team’s first playoff victory in more than a decade was tempered by the final score: Bears 27, Seattle 24. It represented another suspect game for the defense, and it will be an unacceptable performance level when the New Orleans Saints bring the NFL’s top-ranked offense to town for the NFC championship game Sunday.

Even though beleaguered quarterback Rex Grossman was fine Sunday, the team still had to rally in the fourth quarter and win the game in overtime because the Bears couldn’t shut down the Seahawks.

Yes, even the victories of late have come with warning signs. The Rams had scoring drives of 89 yards and 99 yards. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers scored 19 points after scoring 19 in the three previous games. Detroit’s Jon Kitna threw three touchdown passes against the Bears. He had three touchdown passes in the previous five games.

The defense’s points-allowed average grew from 12.0 to 15.9 in the last five games of the regular season, and its league ranking in that category slipped from first to third. There was an even greater drop in passing yards allowed, from first to 11th, giving up about 40 yards a game more than the midpoint of the season.

What’s wrong? The answer isn’t on the statistics sheet, it’s on the transaction page in the Bears’ postseason media guide. Two moves stand out:

Oct. 19 ... Place SS Mike Brown on Injured Reserve.

Dec. 12 ... Place DT Tommie Harris on Injured Reserve.

Harris might have been the best defensive lineman in the league this season. He was to the Bears what Beyonce was to Destiny’s Child. Harris could pressure the quarterback or occupy blockers to allow Urlacher to stuff running backs.

Brown was the best player in the Bears’ secondary. All six opponents’ passing games of 200 yards or better came after Brown was injured against Arizona.

To their credit, the Bears don’t sit in their locker room and moan about their stars’ absence or mention it every two seconds. But if you ask them, they’ll tell you it’s the core of their defensive problems.

“Obviously, we miss them,” linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer said. “Anybody that tells you you [lose] two Pro Bowlers and it’s not going to affect you, they’re overly optimistic -- if not just lying to you.”

It wasn’t only what happened to those two players; it’s the effect it had on the rest of the unit.

“I think the players pressed, tried to make plays,” defense coordinator Ron Rivera said. “It comes back to being disciplined, playing the scheme, playing within the framework of what we’re trying to do.”

They’ll need Urlacher to do what he’s supposed to do as well.

Urlacher will always be seen -- TV cameras love fixating on Bears linebackers -- but his name wasn’t heard much against the Seahawks. He had only four solo tackles. Like using a bone to distract a guard dog, the Seahawks’ formations often forced Urlacher into covering tight ends and receivers instead of tracking running backs from sideline to sideline.

Will the Bears rise to the occasion? Their defense has a knack for coming through in the clutch. Chicago beat Seattle and Tampa Bay in overtime despite losing the coin tosses -- and the Buccaneers even had three possessions.

On one Seahawks fourth-quarter possession, the Bears stopped Shaun Alexander short of the first-down marker on third- and fourth-and-one.

But that’s the ferocity people expected all the time after the Bears saw only one of their first five opponents score more than seven points.

They’re knocking on the Super Bowl door, but if asked they couldn’t provide an identity.

“I don’t think there is one,” defensive end Alex Brown said. “We find a way to win. Whatever it takes.

“We look at stats, we look at all that. You talk about the No. 1 defense, everybody says it’s the Ravens. They’re home. The No. 1 defense in the league is home. It’s unfortunate, but they ran into Peyton Manning, and [Adam] Vinatieri.

“We’re, what, fifth? We’re still in it. At this point in the season, the name of the game is to win.”