Brandon Marshall looked good yesterday, but the Bears still have a lot to prove on offense. Click through the gallery for 10 observations.

Brian Urlacher said he has no pain in his left knee, which forced him to miss almost all of camp. | Tom Cruze~Sun-Times

Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher could miss the rest of the regular season with a hamstring strain. | Tom Cruze~Sun-Times

2. The Bears’ defense is one of the best in the NFL, but it does not appear to be built to take advantage of a lead. The Bears allowed a TD with a 24-14 lead and another TD with a 34-14 lead before finally putting the hammer down in the final minutes.

3. That said, the Bears’ defense doesn’t break often. The Bears are now 18-0 when they take a 10-point lead with Jay Cutler at quarterback.

4. If the Bears can just clean up their act, their offense can be even better. Of their 5 drives without a negative play, they scored 4 TDs and punted once. Of their 7 drives with a negative play, they scored one TD, two field goals and punted four times

5. Jay Cutler had one of his best games as a Bear on Sunday. But as beneficial as his connection with Brandon Marshall is, you can already see one habit he has to break (cont.)

(cont.) throwing to Marshall when the window doesn’t even exist. At least twice, the ball would have had to have gone through the defender for Marshall to have a chance at the reception.

6. What a commentary it is on the dearth of potent Bears offenses over the last 50 years that the fandom of a founding franchise in the NFL has to be constantly reminded that they should hold it down when the Bears are in the red zone.

7. I would pay to see how rookie tight end Evan Rodriguez and veteran Kellen Davis graded out Sunday. Rodriguez made several key blocks in the run game and passing game. But his biggest potential is heading downfield with the ball in his hands. That’ll co

8. Davis, on the other hand, appeared to have a difficult day. He was beaten for a sack on the first play of the game; he missed a block on Devin Hester’s end around that resulted in a four-yard loss; He was beaten by linebacker Jerrell Freeman, whose pre

(cont.) helped lead to a sack of Cutler by Robert Mathis in the third quarter; and his holding penalty nullified a 21-yard gain by Michael Bush. And he appeared to miscommunicate with Cutler on a first-quarter pass play. He never saw the ball again.

9. It wasn’t all bad for Davis. He did wipe out two defenders to help spring Alshon Jeffery for a 23-yard gain on a reception in the third quarter, with 18 yards after the catch.

10. One longtime Bears observer noted that the Packers losing to the 49ers would be a worst-case scenario for the Bears this week. On the contrary, the Bears couldn’t be heading to Green Bay at a better time. (cont.)

(cont.) For a team with as much potential as the Bears have, the greater the degree-of-difficulty, the better. The next step is a huge one.