BEARS IN BRIEF: O-line protection not much to savor

Lovie Smith likes to talk about how losses don't leave a good taste in his mouth, but this win probably didn't taste too good to Jay Cutler, who was swallowing blood after a blow to the chin from the helmet of Cleveland linebacker Kamerion Wimbley in the second quarter.

That drew a 15-yard penalty that kept alive the Bears' first touchdown drive, but the only thing the Bears will have to show for the rest of the hits on Cutler will be some bruises. Cutler bit his tongue on the big hit and didn't stop swallowing blood until the fourth quarter. He was sacked a season-high four times and hit seven times by the worst-ranked defense in the league.

''Shaun Rogers is a big guy,'' Cutler said. ''And every time he hits you, it counts for two.''

OK, make it nine quarterback hits then. The point is, Cutler was pressured often by a wretched defense behind an offensive line that underwent its first change of the season with Josh Beekman replacing Frank Omiyale at left guard. Rogers tossed aside Beekman on one of his two hits, but the line as a whole struggled.

''I'm going to watch the tape and talk to coach and go over things and ask him a couple things and just try to improve,'' Beekman said. ''I got Jay hit on one of the protections out there; can't let that happen.''

Ex-Bear John St. Clair tried hard -- hard enough to keep Adewale Ogunleye from registering a sack for the third consecutive game. St. Clair could draw a fine, though, for poking Ogunleye in the eye on one play, even though there was no penalty on the play.

''John played a dirty trick on me,'' Ogunleye said. ''Old friend, he poked me in the eye trying to get me out of the game. O-line trick. He said he said a prayer for me. How can you be mad at that?''

Devin Hester had a 69-yard punt return for a touchdown called back by a holding penalty on Rashied Davis in the fourth quarter. It looked pretty blatant, and Hester, who is two touchdowns short of tying Brian Mitchell for the NFL record with 13 touchdowns, was understanding.

''I ain't tripping,'' he said. ''We still have nine more games left. It ain't the end of the world.''

Hester is averaging 12.5 yards per return, double his production from last season.

Dave Toub's coverage units did a number on Browns return man Joshua Cribbs. He was limited to a 22.8-yard average on six kickoff returns, and he had one fair catch of a punt.

Toub said last week that Cribbs might be the best in the league right now, but buoyed by a strong effort from Corey Graham and the return of Adrian Peterson, Cribbs didn't find any daylight.

''We wanted to slow him down a little bit, but never thought we would be able to shut him out like that,'' Smith said. ''It starts with the kicks and the coverage units from there.''

Hunter Hillenmeyer returned to middle linebacker for his 10th career start there, and Nick Roach flipped back to the strong side, a change that was made in part because of communication issues last week.

''I think they've done a good job throughout,'' Smith said. ''Normally you don't have to go through that many changes. But with injuries and things like that, we've had to. But the adjustment went well. When both guys were healthy, Nick was our Sam and Hunter was our Mike. Now that we have the group back together, that's how we've gone with it. We felt comfortable when Nick was playing Mike, too.''

Safety Craig Steltz left the game with an injury to his right biceps. Smith said it was not expected to be a serious injury.

• Israel Idonije's block of Phil Dawson's extra-point try was the fifth block of his career. The Bears were able to control Rogers, who entered with 15 career blocks, the most in the NFL over the last two decades. Two of those 15 came against the Bears.

• Hester's 21 catches over the last three weeks are the second-most in the NFL trailing only Arizona's Larry Fitzgerald (25), who the Bears will face on Sunday.