Lovie Smith’s summary of the game:
Coming into the game, we wanted to run the football, to try and establish the run to take a little bit of the pressure off of the passing game. I thought we did a good job of that. Starting off, we did get off to a good start right away. That kick off return set the tone. Going back to the run, that Forte is outstanding. Our entire running game was good. Says a lot about some of our new players playing offensive line. Edwin Williams, J’Marcus Webb getting that first start. I thought they did well. In the passing game, of course, we did what we had to do. There are things we have to improve on. You can’t turn the ball over that many times. The ball security has to improve. On the other side of the ball, once you get a lead, you have to be able to hold it. We’ve been up 17-3 here before and weren’t able to hold it, but the defense from start to finish, front, line backers, back end played well. I don’t know exactly how many sacks. We had good pressure on the quarterback. With a young quarterback, you have to be able to make him make some throws. Don’t like the way we started though, with them going down the field running football. That just can’t happen. Then the take-aways, they start coming, but once you get a lead and then start playing defense like that, it’s hard to win. Talk about all three phases, Special Teams, especially with the big returns really came through for us. Besides that, we needed to get a fourth win on the road, and we got it on the road against a good solid team. I know the record didn’t say it, but any time you play John Fox or Ron Meeks, or a defensive team, you know you have your hands full.
Lovie Smith on whether Caleb Hanie will start next week:
It’s a little too early for us to get into that. We’re just trying to enjoy this win right now. First off, hopefully Jay will be able to go and we won’t have to go down that road. Todd started today. Caleb came in. Both of those quarterbacks helped us win. That’s where we are right now. Hopefully we’ll get our third quarterback in the mix next week.
Matt Forte on his two touchdowns:
Great opportunities. The first one was a fake. They bit on the fake and were wide open. Johnny (Knox) had a great block on the DB in the endzone which allowed him to get into the endzone. That was easy. The second one we ran an outside zone play, I got the ball, read the blocks. Everybody was on a man. Make the safety miss the blocks and get a long run.
Julius Peppers on his interception:
[Geoff] Schwartz tried to cut me and he didn’t get me down. I was able to get my hand up. The ball popped straight up in the air. I was on my knees as everyone else was falling down around me. The ball just came right back to me and I pulled it in.
Israel Idonije on Peppers’ interception:
The guy’s incredible. That’s just one guy taking over that’s out on the field. Tip the ball, dive. The quarterback goes to knock it down and he catches it. The only thing left for him to do is to jump up and run it in the end zone. The guy is outstanding. He’s going to make his presence felt in the game. No matter what, he’s going to do that.