Bears linebacker and defensive captain Lance Briggs was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week today.

Lance Briggs put on a show in Seattle on Sunday, where he had a sack, an interception, eight tackles and one tackle-for-loss.

Lovie Smith said this about Lance:

“Lance Briggs has been outstanding, he’s played like a Pro Bowler every time he’s touched the field. [Sunday] he was going to will the team, will the defense to step it up.”

Lance Briggs has been voted to four straight pro bowls, but never won this award before Sunday. Way to go Lance, keep it up.

all quotes from www.chicagobears.com

Vaughn McClure of the Chicago Tribune said this in his article The Bears Re-Sign Darrell McClover:

“The Bears must not be overly concerned about their linebacker situation after re-signing reserve Darrell McClover Tuesday. The Bears made room for McClover by releasing cornerback DeAngelo Smith. McClover is more of a special teams contributor than a player capable of contributing on defense, which would indicate the Bears are confident Hunter Hillenmeyer’s rib injury is not too serious. Pisa Tinoisamoa is also due back from a knee sprain, possibly as soon as Sunday’s home game vs. Detroit. Adding McClover also decreased the chance the Bears would look to a veteran such as Derrick Brooks.”

So What?

McClover has played in 22 games in three seasons with the Bears (2006-2008). In his time here, he recorded 36 special team tackles along with two blocked punts. He played in 10 games last season before going on the IR with a hamstring injury. McClover signed with the Bears this off-season after being released immediately after the season ended. He played in the preseason finale before being released September 5th.

The 28 year old McClover gained the nickname “The Commando” during his three seasons with the Bears and has been brought back because of the injuries to Hunter Hillenmeyer and Pisa Tinoisamoa. Because of the injuries Nick Roach and Jamar Williams have been taken off of special teams and put into the starting lineup.

McClover gives you nothing but 100% effort on special teams, I’m glad they decided to bring him back.

Did you know that the Bears’ Kellen Davis tipped Mare’s first successful field-goal, a 46-yarder, and Zackary Bowman nearly blocked Mare’s second attempt, a 37-yarder that split the uprights. After those two kicks, Mare appeared to rush his next two tries, missing both of them wide left. Even Mare’s 46-yarder that put the Seahawks ahead 19-17 with 5:12 left in the fourth quarter was tipped by Israel Idonije.

The Bears had a lot to do with Jeff Reed’s missed field goals last week as well. The Bears special teams have led the league in blocked field goals the past two seasons.

Here are the week four Bears power rankings from various sites around the web:

ESPN:

#14 (No change from last week)

Analysis, “It’s now hard to remember how lousy Jay Cutler played in Week 1.”

CBS:

#16 (+3 from last week)

Analysis, “The past two weeks we saw why they traded to get Jay Cutler. The kid can play, even if some, like my colleague Clark Judge, don’t think he can.”

Yahoo Sports:

#14 ( No change from last week)

Analysis, “When coach Lovie Smith assured us Devin Hester was a legitimate No. 1 receiver, is it possible he was right?”

Pro Football Weekly:

#13 (+5 from last week)

Analysis, “Hester and Knox have corners stretching hamstrings extra long.”

Fox Sports:

#16 (+1 from last week)

Analysis, “Who’d have thunk it, the Bears being 0-1 in games started by Brian Urlacher and 2-0 without their defensive leader? Thank new shiny ride Jay Cutler, who has more than made up for yakking all over the season opener by leading the Bears to two straight fourth-quarter comeback wins against tough teams Pittsburgh and Seattle.”

SI.com:

#16 (+1 from last week)

Analysis, “We’ve knocked Jay Cutler when he gets sloppy with the ball, so honesty compels us to highlight just how efficient he has been in leading the Bears to consecutive wins over the Steelers and Seahawks. He completed 73.8 percent of his passes in those games (48 of 65) for 483 yards, with five touchdowns and just one interception. Even better, he’s not forcing throws downfield, but seems content to take the short stuff underneath and wait for his shots at big plays. That’s winning football, and if it keeps up, Cutler is going to change a lot of minds.”

Covers.com:

#11 (+7 from last week)

Analysis, “The Bears won against a short-handed Seattle team and now face the Lions who may still be celebrating into the week. Chicago has a bye next week before two straight roadies.”

First of all, let me just come out and say those Seahawk lime green jerseys were the ugliest things I’ve ever seen. I could not believe they actually wore them. I just thought we could not those to a team with those jerseys, it would be embarrassing.

Three out of my four predictions came true in this game, at least for the most part. I said Devin Hester would have a big day, Lance Briggs would have an interception and Mark Anderson would have two sacks. I mean Anderson only one sack, but he was all over the field forcing Seneca Wallace to throw the ball away.

Ok. Now to the game. The Bears could not have started that game with better field position, but they struggled to move the ball on that drive and Lovie Smith sent Robbie Gould to attempt a 53 yard field goal and I knew that was a bad idea. The defense struggled a bit in the first half giving up 13 points, but again the Bears offense wasn’t good until the end of the second quarter. On a third and goal play Matt Forte caught a pass and ran towards the end-zone and fumbled, but the Bears challenged the play and it was overturned. They wound up going for it on fourth and goal, and Ron Turner called play action to perfection, when Cutler who was about to get sacked threw the ball to a wide open Greg Olsen for a touchdown. The Bears went into halftime trailing 13-7 and that was a good thing because they had a lot of momentum off of that play.

The Bears came out in the third quarter forcing a fumble on defense and scored quickly, when Jay Cutler threw his second touchdown pass to Johnny Knox. Lance Briggs had a big interception near the end of the third quarter and that led to a field goal by Robbie Gould.

In the fourth quarter the Bears let Seattle make two field goals. So with about five minutes left the Bears and Cutler drove down the field for the game winning drive. Jay Cutler hit Devin Hester on a short slant route and Hester took off into the end-zone for a 37 yard touchdown. The Bears went for the two point conversion to go up by six points and Cutler completed the pass to Earl Bennett. The Seahawks drove down to the Bears 29 yard line with 26 ticks remaining, but Nick Roach deflected the Seneca Wallace pass and the game ended soon their after.

Reasons We Won:

The Bears defense buckled down even though they lost MLB Hunter Hillenmeyer to injury. They allowed only six points in the second half. Seahawks kicker Olindo Mare was four of six on his field goal attempts and the Bears won the game by six points, so maybe Mare is to blame.

Jay Cutler played great, he was 21 of 27 for 247 yards, threw three touchdowns and one interception and had a QB rating 126.4. Cutler was getting pressured when he tried to force a pass to Johnny Knox which was intercepted. Also, the Seahawks forced a fumble out of Cutler’s hand in the fourth quarter, but besides that he was very good.

Hester, Knox, Olsen and Bennett all played very well. Matt Forte averaged 3.1 ypc on 21 carries for a gain of 66 yards.

Zack Bowman lead the defense with nine tackles and played very well in coverage, Briggs had a sack and an interception, Al Afalava nearly had two interceptions, Mark Anderson looked good, Nick Roach was solid, and Tommie Harris was getting pressure on Wallace a lot yesterday. Also, Charles Tillman forced the fumble by T.J. Housmandzadeh in the beginning of the third quarter.

Next Up:

Sunday the Bears face the Detroit Lions, who won their first game since 2007 last week against the Redskins.

Time: 12:00 CT or 1:00 ET.

The Bears take on the Seattle Seahawks for the first time since 2007, when they travel to Qwest Field for a 4:05 ET affair. Of course we all know about the QB situation in Seattle, Matt Hasselback might be able to go and if not Seneca Wallace will go.

Hasselback could beat you with his arm and Wallace could beat you with your legs. Last week when QB Seneca Wallace came into the game for the injured Matt Hasselback he immediately threw a one yard touchdown pass. The Seahawk possessions after that were punt, punt, INT, punt, turnover on downs, game over.

Players Who Will Step Up:

1) RB Matt Forte- This pick is simple because the Seahawks let Frank Gore run for 207 yards, including two touchdown runs of 75 yards plus, which means Matt Forte should have a break out day. I mean Forte was playing against some tough run defenses in Green Bay and Pittsburgh, give the guy a break.

2) WR Devin Hester- He should do well on offense, because the Seahawks will be looking for Greg Olsen and Johnny Knox all day, which means Hester will be open more than covered.

3) DE Mark Anderson- He should get plenty of playing time no matter if Alex Brown plays or not, look for Anderson to get at least a couple of sacks. He looks like a much improved player.

4) LB Lance Briggs- He is now the captain of the defense and he will be looking to get an interception on Sunday, watch out for the captain Lance. He will be the leading tackler on defense for sure.

Keys To The Game:

The Bears defensive line looks back and if that’s true then they will have a big week against Seattle. Seattle is one of the toughest places to play in the NFL and Seattle is a much better team this season, but their dealing with a lot of injuries.

If the Bears can play as well as they did last week and some more than they should be able to take care of business on the road.

Prediction:

Bears 28, Seahawks 17. Bears Win!

After two games the Bears have given up only three sacks, while the Green Bay Packers have surrendered ten and the Minnesota Vikings have given up seven.

These statistics are amazing considering how bad the Bears offensive line was last season and looked during week one against Green Bay.

The additions of Orlando Pace, and Frank Omiyale look like their paying off. Well, Omiyale and Pace have looked great blocking the screen passes atleast. Also, Chris Williams has played up to his potential because I haven’t even noticed him. Olin Kreutz is still one of the best centers, who hasn’t missed a game since 2002 and Roberto Garza is a nice player.

Overall the Bears offensive line has been a lot better than most had probably expected.

I give them a B+ rating after two games.

If they can give Jay Cutler that kind of protection all season, the Bears should go far. The only area of concern with this unit is the running game. The concern is there because Matt Forte doesn’t even have a total of 100 yards after two games. I think the reason for that has to be the defenses the Bears faced in Green Bay and Pittsburgh, two of the best. Look for the Bears to have lots of success running the ball against Seattle next week, San Fransisco averaged 4.5 ypc against them on Sunday.

Here are the week three Bears power rankings from various sites around the web:

ESPN:

#14 (+1 from last week)

Analysis, “The Bears need more of the Jay Cutler who showed up to beat the Steelers.”

CBS:

#19 (+1 from last week)

Analysis, “So Jay Cutler isn’t that bad after all. He played well in beating the Steelers to hush some critics. The better news is the improved play of the defense — even without Brian Urlacher.”

Yahoo Sports:

#14 (+2 from last week)

Analysis, “How many of you fans fetched your crumpled up Jay Cutler jerseys out of the trash after Sunday’s performance against the Steelers?”

Pro Football Weekly:

#13 (+1 from last week)

Analysis, “Huge win. No, HUGE win.”

Fox Sports:

#17 (+3 from last week)

Analysis, “Now that’s why Bears fans went B-A-N-A-N-A-S, bananas all summer long in anticipation of watching Jay Cutler captain their team. Cutler came through in Week 2 to avoid an 0-2 start with a flawless fourth quarter in the rain against the defending champion Steelers.”

Covers.com:

#18 (-6 from last week)

Analysis, “The Bears got some revenge after last week’s meltdown in GB. They were outgained but won thanks to the 2-0 turnover edge and two Pitt missed field goals.”

SI.com:

#17 (no change from last week)

Analysis, “That was a big, equilibrium-gathering win against the Steelers, but can a franchise that barely survived the Good Rex, Bad Rex era endure a similar Good Cutler, Bad Cutler routine from week to week? In case you’re wondering, the Bears beat the defending champs and didn’t move an inch because we’re not jumping them over the Packers, who just beat them in Week 1.”

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The answer to this poll question was seven rookies.