Brace under pressure: 'D' holds on

The Bears' defense came through when it most mattered, shutting down the Seahawks in the fourth quarter and again in overtime. So no worries, right? The Bears survived, beating the Seahawks 27-24. The Bears will play another day. That's what matters.

''All you have to do is get into the tournament, and you're able to win ballgames,'' cornerback Nate Vasher said. ''We were really blessed to get a win today in the fashion that we did. But I don't think it would have mattered if we won by one point or 10 points.''

But if Matt Hasselbeck and company put up 24 points on the Bears, will Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints' backfield score 50? Maybe so. Maybe not. As the Bears were quick to point out, with a healthy Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander, the Seahawks have an extremely capable offense. And here's something else: The defense was pressing on Sunday.

For the two weeks leading up to the game, the players insisted they were immune to outside pressure. Turns out that wasn't the case. The Bears hadn't won a home playoff game since 1991, and it was on everyone's mind. The defense played poorly in last season's playoff loss to the Panthers and didn't want to fail again.

''It's just a big monkey off our back,'' Brian Urlacher said. ''We're not where we want to be yet, but we're kind of over the hump from the aspect that we won a playoff game, we're on to the NFC Championship and it comes through Chicago.''

If an All-Pro middle linebacker admits to feeling pressure, you wonder what the rest of the team felt. It's hard to gauge. On one side of the locker room, cornerback Peanut Tillman was saying the defense thrives on pressure.

''We want all the pressure on us,'' Tillman said. ''We want it on our backs. We'll take that extra load. And it came down to that today, and we were able to succeed.''

On the other side, defensive coordinator Ron Rivera was proclaiming the victory a relief and saying it might settle his players down.

''It really helps us,'' Rivera said. ''What it does is puts the guys at ease. We've gotten over the biggest hump, and what it is now is a great chance to get to the Super Bowl.''

Rivera's biggest disappointment with the way the defense played?

''The players pressed,'' he said. ''They were trying to make plays. It comes back to being disciplined, playing the scheme, playing within the framework of what we're trying to do in terms of our coverages and in terms of our fronts.''

How many times did the Bears try to poke the ball out of Alexander's hand, instead of wrapping him up in a big bear hug? How many times did a defensive back find himself out of position after going for an interception? I'm just asking. Because you'd hate to see the Bears give the Saints all those opportunities to exploit. By the way, the Seahawks' offense looked awfully good in the third quarter, didn't it?

''It's the playoffs, you know?'' defensive tackle Tank Johnson said. ''Teams are going to bring their best, and they're a good team. They went to the Super Bowl last year.

''As you've seen in the playoffs, no one is immortal. The best defenses are getting run on and passed on. But it's a 60-minute game, and as you saw in this game, it was a 63-minute game. At this point, it's just a fight to the finish. It doesn't matter what happens in between.''

And here's where you hand it to the defense. Boy, did it finish.

When the Bears found themselves trailing by three points entering the fourth quarter, the defense knew it had to shut the Seahawks down. It was the least Rivera's guys could do, considering they had allowed the Seahawks to score on both of their third-quarter possessions, first on a 40-yard field goal, then on a 13-yard run by Alexander.

''We just kept fighting, and even though we were tired, our crowd gave us a great energy, becoming almost our 12th man out there,'' Johnson said. ''We fed off them and we fed off each other. We knew we were going to win the game if we just stuck to our guns. But it's kind of nerve-racking, you know what I mean?''

Johnson did his part, sacking Hasselbeck for a nine-yard loss with 24 seconds left in regulation, helping to send the game into overtime. Before Johnson's huge play, several other Bears defenders had lent a hand.

Nickel back Ricky Manning Jr. pitched in with an interception. Defensive end Adewale Ogunleye produced a third-and-one sack. After teaming up with safety Chris Harris to stop Alexander on third-and-one, linebacker Lance Briggs broke into the backfield and stopped him again on fourth-and-one.

''Toward the end of the game, you just knew something special was going to happen,'' Johnson said. ''Whether it went your way or not, something big was going to happen. It was electric. Luckily, the football gods were on our side today.''

Can Rivera's guys carry their fourth-quarter mentality into the game against the Saints?

''You can build on it,'' Rivera said. ''The plays that were made by these guys, we're going to point to them. Most certainly. We'll say, 'Here are the plays that were made during crunch time. You made them when you had to make them.'

Sometimes you have to win a game like this so you can say, 'You played good, but we can play better.'''

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