Jay Cutler Redeems himself… shows everyone why he was brought here.

by Dan Peters

Cutler was nearly perfect tonight.. And the Bears battered defense rose to the task to “Steel” a win from the defending Super Bowl Champs. 17-14.

For the Bears, this is getting easy. The last two times the Bears opened the season at home against a defending Super Bowl winner, the rose to the task and beat them. First it was the NY Giants in 1987, Then the Cowboys in 1996. Now add the Steelers to that impressive resume.

Cutler bounced back from a 4-interception embarrassment in the season opener to complete 27 of 38 passes for 236 yards, 2 touchdowns, no interceptions and a passer rating of 104.7.

"I think they brought me here for a reason, and I want the ball at the end every game with a chance to win it," said Cutler, who notched his first win as a Bear and chalked it up as a team victory.

Two new stars emerge… and Cutler loves his new targets.. Johnny Knox and Kellen Davis. Both were stellar and scored their first NFL regular season touchdowns.

With the worst field position of the day, the Bears' offense put together its longest and most impressive drive of the season…and maybe the past few years, going 97 yards to

tie the game at 7-7 on a 6-yard TD grab by backup tight end Kellen Davis with 19 seconds left in the first half.

Davis, got his chance, being put in for injured Desmond Clark. This was his first extended playing time in the NFL and he responded with 5 catches for 38 yards. After his first catch, a 10-yard gain, the second pass directed his way clanked off his hands. "I'm assuming my teammates believe in me and have confidence in me as a player," Davis said. "So I felt like I let them down because I knew it could have been a big play." Cutler told him to forget about it.

Later in the game, Cutler’s 7-yard TD pass to rookie Johnny Knox, who had a team best of 6 catches and 70 yards, tied the game at 14-all 8:39 into the fourth quarter, setting the stage for Robbie Gould's game-winning, 44-yard field goal with 15 seconds remaining.

The patched up defense made the plays when they needed to…and Cutler knows it was a key to the win tonight.

"The defense stepped up and forced them to miss 2 (fourth-quarter) field goals, ours guys caught the ball, the offensive line did a great job, and we converted the third down with Devin (Hester), so it was three phases." Said Cutler.

Better than “Gould”

"He's as good as gold," said special team’s coordinator Dave Toub. "He's solid. He's a clutch kicker." Gould is the third-most-accurate FG kicker in NFL history at 86.3 percent (113 of 131), By the time Gould retires, he will have re-written the record books.

Jay Cutler assumed it was a done deal when he and the offense got the ball to the Steelers' 26. "He's made it in 5-degree weather and in snow and rain," Cutler said. "We knew we just had to give him a shot and he's going to do it for us."… and he did.

For the Bears this week… it will be another challenge.. facing Seattle on their home turf. They need to continue to build on what they put on the field tonight. If they do, only good things can happen to this team.

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