Saints vs. Bears 2013, Week 5: Live coverage, score updates and more

The defense was again impressive for New Orleans, putting the clamps on Brandon Marshall and holding the Bears to just 18 points. The Bears had a frustrating afternoon in a home game that was a big measuring stick for the team.

Over at Windy City Gridiron, growing pains were expected:

Marshall has been seeing consistent double-coverage, and his season hit another low. He had 30 yards receiving and a touchdown, but he struggled to beat the Saints’ coverage and spent some time on the sideline as a result.

After the game, Marshall expressed his frustration with the performance in a press conference. Here are his full quotes from the Chicago Tribune.

The Bears got the ball back with 21 seconds remaining after holding the Saints to a three-and-out, but failed to score.

Brees finished with 288 yards through the air, 12 yards short of breaking his own NFL record of nine consecutive 300-yard passing games.

New Orleans is off to a terrific start on both sides of the ball and is playing like one of the top teams in the NFC. The Saints offense is once again scoring points, but the biggest change in New Orleans has been the defense. The Saints are allowing 13.8 points per game under new defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, a massive improvement from the 28.4 they allowed last season.

If both teams remain in contention, Sunday’s game could play a role down the road when playoff tiebreakers come into play. The two teams have been fairly well matched in recent years with Chicago holding a 4-3 advantage since 2001. Chicago, however, is 3-1 in four home games during that stretch.

We’ll take a look at both teams tonight.

The Bears hit the big red button this offseason and brought in a somewhat unknown head coach in Marc Trestman. He was brought in to fix the offense and while the numbers don’t necessarily add up to that, he’s managed to keep the offense performing at a consistent level. Last season, the Bears had a maddening tendency to disappear until the fourth quarter, or to play well and collapse in said quarter.