First and 10: Observations on Bears victory over Lions

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GAME 12: The Bears pull out a 24-20 victory when tight end Brandon Manumaleuna scores in the fourth quarter. | AP

There’s nothing wrong with being lucky if you’re good.

Facing a 2-9 Lions team playing without Matthew Stafford and Kyle Vanden Bosch a week after beating the Eagles without Asante Samuel was yet another fortuitous break in what is turning into a golden schedule for the Bears.

Now they get to face the Patriots and Tom Brady — or maybe Brian Hoyer the way things have been going — with another built-in edge. The Patriots will be traveling on a short week after playing what fiures to be a tough, physical game against the Jets on Monday night. In the last three seasons, the Patriots are 1-3 on short rest, the only victory an unimpressive 23-16 win over the St. Louis Rams in Week 8 of 2008, when the Rams were on their way to a 2-14 season.

Even the tough part of the Bears schedule is breaking their way. Playing the three best teams at home — the Eagles, Patriots and Jets. Playing the 2-9 Lions after the Eagles and the 5-7 Vikings between the Patriots and Jets. The finale against the Packers in Green Bay on Jan. 2 likely will be significant, but probably not do-or-die.

From the Calvin Johnson ‘‘drop’’ in the end zone in the season opener, the Bears have been getting the breaks this season. But while most success in the NFL is tenuous, the Bears are not the house-of-cards they were in 2001. That team needed a horseshoe up its behind to go as far as it did. This team not only is making more of its own breaks, but better equipped to take advantage of the ones it gets.

And now, 10 observations from the Bears’ 24-20 victory over the Lions on Sunday at Ford Field:

1. Speaking of breaks, how about one of the most well-timed bye weeks in NFL history? The Bears had lost three of four games, including home losses to the Seahawks and Redskins when they went into the bye week at 4-3. Brian Urlacher was hurting. Lance Briggs was injured. Jay Cutler still appeared to be feeling the effects of his concussion against the Giants. And even Julius Peppers was quiet.

The bye week seemed to work wonders. Urlacher has had 10, 10, 4, 11 and 17 tackles in the four games since the bye. Briggs is back. Cutler is getting better every week. And more importantly than anything else, Mike Martz is running the Bears offense around his players rather than his vision of what his offense should be.

2. Credit where it’s due: Cornerback Charles Tillman did a nice job on Calvin Johnson on Sunday. Johnson had three receptions for 66 yards and a touchdown, but his 46-yard touchdown that accounted for most of that damage came against D.J. Moore.

3. These last few games have been proof that if the Bears merely had a better offense, they never would have had to use Devin Hester at wide receiver. Hester caught one pass for one yard against the Lions and the lack of production wasn’t missed. He’s clearly a better kick returner when he’s not playing wide receiver (he’s never had a kick return for a TD in a game where he had more than three receptions) and it seems like the Bears are easing him back in to his full-time role as a kick returner.

4. While Jay Cutler is playing a ‘‘game manager’’ role like Kyle Orton did with the Bears, the difference between the two is pretty clear. Nothing against Orton, but I can’t see him making those third-down passes to Earl Bennett that played a huge part in the victory.

In Orton’s best season with the Bears (2008), Orton completed 58.5 percent of his passes. Cutler is up to 63.2 after completing 21-of-26 passes for 234 yards — while getting sacked four times — against the Lions. In fact, Cutler has completed 68.2 of his passes (73-of-107) in the last four games.

5. You look at Earl Bennett and think, ‘‘What’s the big deal,’’ but Bennett is proving invaluable as a go-to for Cutler on third down. His 33-yard reception on third-and-1 might have the most impressive pass play of the season — Bennett broke two tackles and dragged four defenders for 22 tough yards after the catch.

The Bears were 7-of-16 (44 percent) on third-and-one conversions coming into the game, including 4-of-12 (33 percent) in their first eight games.

6. Here’s another factor in the Bears favor. Their defense is staying relatively fresh. The Bears won time-of-possession for the fourth time in five games since the bye, 33:19 to 26:41. The defense was on the field for 53 plays, only 23 in the second half.

The Bears’ defense has been on the field for an average of 56 plays in the second half of the season. They were on the field for 65 plays per game in the first half.

7. Sorry to nit-pick, but do the Bears have the worst offensive tackles of any playoff contender? Frank Omiyale might be getting more comfortable at left tackle and rookie J’Marcus Webb might be a great player some day. But right now the Bears are surviving with those two ‘‘anchors’’ on the offensive line. Something to keep in mind when everything heats up in the postseason — if the Bears get there, of course.

8. It’s too bad there isn’t replay for unnecessary roughness penalties. Ndamukong Suh’s hit on Cutler looked a lot worse live than it actually was. Not only that, but replays showed that Suh didn’t really give him a forearm to the head. It was unnecessary, but it wasn’t roughness.

9. Jay Cutler didn’t have any double-digit runs for the first time in five games, but he had a key scramble for an eight-yard gain that ended with Suh’s penalty. Cutler has been pretty daring with his running this season — skirting the sidelines with nifty footwork and ducking into the middle of the field for extra yardage. It’s paid off so far, but when the Bears’ luck starts to turn, that’ll be an area where it could turn into disaster.

10. Ex-Bears Player of the Week: Cedric Benson isn’t having as big of a year as he had last year — he’s rushed for 837 yards on 237 attemps (3.5 yards per carry) compared to 1,251 yards on 201 attempts (4.2 yards per carry) in 2009. But he scored touchdowns on runs of 1 ND 3 yards that kept the Bengals close in a 34-30 loss on Sunday. Benson has six rushing touchdowns this season, equalling his 2009 total.