Bears’ O-line takes step forward vs. Giants after nine-sack debacle

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Updated: November 3, 2011 5:12PM

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Under the watchful eye of coach Mike Tice and probably every Bears fan with a TV set, the Bears’ offensive line — a group that prefers to toil in anonymity — faced the heavy burden of improving under intense scrutiny Monday against the New York Giants.

Unless the game film shows some kind of subliminal excellence, it was a small step more than a giant leap. But it could have been worse.

Quarterback Jay Cutler was sacked only once in 21 drop-backs in the first half — eight times fewer than in the first half of the regular-season nightmare against the Giants last season.

‘‘We felt like we worked better together, which is good,’’ center Roberto Garza said. ‘‘But we still made some mistakes. We have to put the football in the end zone and keep protecting Jay. We had some opportunities that we let slip away.’’

After the Bears allowed nine sacks in their preseason opener Aug. 12 against the Buffalo Bills, Tice put the line on notice. More than likely, the line will stay intact for the game Saturday against the Tennessee Titans in Nashville. The Bears rushed for only 23 yards on eight carries (2.9 yards per carry) behind the first-team offensive line against the Giants, but Cutler completed 12 of 21 passes for 171 yards.

‘‘We definitely did a better job of communicating and working together today,’’ Garza said. ‘‘That’s a step in the right direction. Some technique stuff is still a work in progress. There’s still a long way to go. But as long as we keep getting better every week, we’ll get to our goal.’’

Webb and Louis, who were culprits in the subpar performance against the Bills, appeared to play better against the Giants. Webb committed a false-start infraction on the Bears’ third play from scrimmage — the only penalty on the first-team line — but avoided any other overt transgressions.

Louis, who might have been playing for his job, was beaten a couple of times but seemed to improve overall.

‘‘I hope it was better,’’ Louis said. ‘‘I just have to wait and see the film. You don’t want to say, ‘Oh, I played a good game,’ and then you look at the film and there were all kinds of things going on. So I’m just going to have to wait.

‘‘I definitely felt relaxed this game. I felt more confident. Hopefully, it showed on film.’’

Tice’s biggest criticism of Louis’ play against the Bills was that he ‘‘tried to kill people.’’ Louis said he made a conscious effort to avoid that against the Giants and tried to play football instead.

‘‘I was just trying to play relaxed, not get caught up in head-butting people and stuff like that,’’ Louis said. ‘‘I just tried to play within myself. Hopefully, I did that. Hopefully, I got better this week. That was my big goal — to get better and show them I belong.’’