LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP)—This was what the Chicago Bears envisioned all along.

Adewale Ogunleye set the tone when he burst through the line for the first
of his two sacks, knocking the quarterback out of the game with a concussion.

Tommie Harris collected a pair of sacks, too. And keeping with the retro
theme, the Bears won 27-3 at St. Louis on Sunday behind a season-high five sacks
and four interceptions.

Just like the old days, the defense finally dominated.

“You can say it so many times, but until you actually do it, it doesn’t sit
firm in your mind,” Ogunleye said Monday. “Now, I think guys know we are
capable of playing good defense not for just a quarter or a half but throughout
the whole game.”

The Bears (6-5) certainly weren’t the first team to shut down the lowly
Rams, and they realize they face a tougher task this week when they visit fellow
NFC North leader Minnesota. Even so, this was a big step.

After all, the Bears were coming off an embarrassing 37-3 loss to Green Bay
that left safety Mike Brown suggesting their old dominant form might not return.
If nothing else, it made a cameo.

The Bears limited the Rams to 14 yards rushing after getting trampled for
200 the previous week and knocked St. Louis for a loss on eight of 12 plays in
the first quarter.

Held without a sack for the third time this season against Green Bay, the
Bears kept coming at the Rams after Ogunleye knocked Bulger out of the game on
St. Louis’ first possession and never let his replacement Trent Green get
comfortable in the pocket. That pressure played a big role in the four
interceptions, which matched a season high.

Most encouraging for the Bears was the emergence of Harris, who had just two
sacks in the first 10 games after signing a $40 million contract extension.

Distraught over the out-of-wedlock birth of his first child, he was
suspended for the Detroit game on Oct. 5 after showing up late for treatments
for a knee injury that kept him out of the previous game against Philadelphia.

Ogunleye said he “watched Tommie closely” and “talked to him just to make
sure his mind is right.” He has noticed “a different person” lately.

Harris finally flashed his Pro Bowl form against the Rams, knocking Green
for a 9-yard loss at the end of the first quarter and taking him down again
early in the fourth.

“People have to start looking at him,” said defensive end Alex Brown, who
had a sack. “They’ve got to make sure they block this guy. He’s one of the best
— if not the best—three-techniques in the league. When he’s healthy and
playing at his top level, there’s nobody better. When he’s playing at 90
percent, you have to double-team him. If you single-block him, he’s going to
beat that all the time. When they start double-teaming him, it leaves myself,
Adewale and the other guys with one-on-ones. We’ve got to take advantage of
it.”

The defense did not have to carry the Bears. It just needed to do its part
in a game where Danieal Manning returned the opening kickoff 50 yards and the
offense showed some creativity while getting another big performance from rookie
Matt Forte.

Devin Hester gained 20 yards on a reverse on the first play from scrimmage
and helped set up a touchdown with a 12-yard run out of a Wildcat formation late
in the opening quarter.

Forte ran for 132 yards and two touchdowns, including a 47-yarder. He now
has 909 yards this season and is on pace to finish with 1,322, which would
eclipse the Bears’ rookie record of 1,183 set by Anthony Thomas in 2001, but
don’t tell him he’s carrying the offense with quarterback Kyle Orton hobbled by
a sprained ankle.

“No. This is a team. Nobody carries a team,” Forte said.

The biggest development on Sunday was the awakening of a once-dominant
defense, a unit that got ripped apart by injuries last year and has been picked
apart by opponents this season. On Sunday, they kept the pressure coming in a
performance straight out of 2005 and 2006. Now, the Bears need to carry that
momentum to Minnesota.

“It’s different,” Alex Brown said. “St. Louis throws the ball a little
more. They don’t have Adrian Peterson. When you have Adrian Peterson in the
backfield, you’re going to run the ball. … When they do throw it, we’ve got to
put pressure on (the quarterback) and sack him. Those are the things we have to
do to have a chance to win.”

Coach Lovie Smith indicated Mike Brown (leg) and TE Desmond Clark
(mild knee sprain) were not seriously injured Sunday. Those two and CB Nathan
Vasher, who also left the game after injuring his surgically repaired right
thumb, were undergoing further evaluations and “we’ll tell you a little bit
more about all these guys Wednesday,” Smith said.