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Chase Stuart writes about the historical and statistical side of football at his site, FootballPerspective.com

The Chicago Bears have the best defense and special teams in the league, and if they can get enough out of their offense, they may end their Super Bowl drought. If you feel as if you’ve read that a few times before, you’re right. Every few seasons in the Brian Urlacher era, the Bears seem to take the league by storm with a dominant defense and special teams. Consider:

The 2001 Bears were not very good. They couldn’t run the ball (27th in yards per carry) and weren’t effective through the air (Jim Miller, Marty Booker and Dez White formed the cornerstone of the passing attack). Defensively, the Bears ranked an unimpressive 15th in yards allowed but led the league in points allowed. Thanks to a great defense and some impressive fourth-quarter play — according to Neil Paine, the 2001 Chicago Bears ranked fifth among all teams since 1978 in terms of win probability added during the fourth quarter and overtime — Chicago went 13-3. But in the Bears’ first playoff game, the passing attack was brutal — Shane Matthews and Jim Miller combined to go 11 for 22 for 89 yards with three interceptions — as Chicago lost to the Eagles, 33-19.

Four years later, with Lovie Smith in charge, Chicago led the league in points allowed, net yards per pass allowed and interceptions returned for a touchdown, while ranking second in yards allowed. But Chicago went only 11-5. The offense was terrible; the rookie Kyle Orton submarined the team to a bottom-five ranking in yards, net yards per pass and turnovers. In the Bears’ playoff matchup with Carolina, Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith took over the game, catching 12 passes for 218 yards and 2 touchdowns in addition to a key 22-yard run in the fourth quarter. By this time, Rex Grossman was back as the starting quarterback, but he was just 17 for 41 for 192 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception, as the Panthers won, 29-21.

The next year was perhaps the best season since ’85 for the Bears. In 2006, Chicago went 13-3 and went back to the Super Bowl with a familiar formula. The defense ranked in the top five in points allowed, yards allowed, first downs allowed, and it ranked first in turnovers forced and net yards per pass allowed. Chicago also led the league with eight return scores; in addition to their three defensive touchdowns, the Bears added a new weapon that year: Devin Hester. In 2006, Hester became the first player to score three touchdowns on punt returns and return two kickoffs for touchdowns in the same season. Despite a passing attack built around Rex Grossman, a 33-year-old Muhsin Muhammad, Bernard Berrian and Desmond Clark, the Bears were able to ride their defense and special teams to the Super Bowl, where they lost to Indianapolis.

In 2010, Chicago was back at it again, ranking in the top five in both points allowed and turnovers forced, while staying tough against both the pass and the run. The Bears excelled again in the fourth quarter; half their regular-season games were decided by 5 points or fewer, with Chicago winning six of eight games. But in the N.F.C. championship game, the Packers ended the Bears’ season, 21-14.

The 2012 Bears stand as the next in a long line of Bears teams that wildly exceeded expectations thanks to a great defense. Chicago ranks second in points allowed and rushing yards allowed, and fifth in net yards per pass allowed. Chicago leads the league in turnovers forced and red zone defense. But this year’s defense is doing things no other Bears defense — or any other N.F.L. defense, for that matter — has ever done.

Chicago has returned seven interceptions for touchdowns in eight games. Before this season, no other team had more than five pick-sixes after eight games, and the Bears are only one interception return for a touchdown away from tying the single-season record, held by the ’98 Seahawks (in the A.F.L. in 1961, the San Diego Chargers returned nine interceptions for touchdowns). But Chicago’s defense hasn’t just been a big-play defense. The Bears have allowed only 10 touchdowns this year, and five of them came in garbage time. Matthew Stafford threw a touchdown with the Lions down by 13 with 36 seconds left, and four other touchdowns came in the second halves of Chicago victories with the Bears already leading by 20-plus points. That means the Bears’ defense has allowed only five meaningful touchdowns while scoring seven of their own. Incredible.

Against the Colts, Chicago forced Andrew Luck into three interceptions and allowed just 7 meaningful points. Against the Rams, Chicago scored 7 points and allowed 6. In Dallas, Charles Tillman and Lance Briggs scored on interceptions, while the defense limited the Cowboys to just 10 meaningful points and intercepted five Tony Romo passes. In Jacksonville, Tillman and Briggs became the first teammates to score on interception returns in consecutive weeks, and the Bears limited Jacksonville to 3 points.

Against Detroit, the Bears forced six fumbles (recovering three) and held the Lions’ high-flying passing attack to a last-second touchdown; half of Detroit’s 12 drives ended in three-and-outs. Against the Panthers, Chicago’s defense was forced to overcome a Bears offense that gained just 61 yards in the first three quarters and held the ball for only 23 minutes 22 seconds in the game; still, Tim Jennings‘s defensive touchdown in the fourth quarter proved to be the play of the game.

Chicago’s performances in the first half of the season were apparently just a warm-up act for Week 9 against Tennessee. On Sunday, on the first play from scrimmage, Charles Tillman forced a fumble, giving the Bears the ball in Titans territory. The Bears forced Tennessee to go three-and-out on each of its next two possessions, with the second stalled drive leading to a punt that was blocked and returned for a touchdown. Later in the first quarter, Hester returned a punt to the Titans’ 8-yard-line, setting up a one-play scoring drive. On the Titans’ next drive, Urlacher intercepted Matt Hasselbeck and returned it for a touchdown. On Tennessee’s next play from scrimmage, Tillman stripped Chris Johnson of the ball, giving Chicago possession at the Titans’ 16. Three plays later, Cutler found Brandon Marshall for a 13-yard score. After the first quarter, the Titans had eight drives, and the four that ended in three-and-outs and punts were the good ones.

Tillman ended the day with four forced fumbles; while not an official statistic, Tillman continues to force fumbles at an unprecedented rate for a cornerback. Unofficially, he now holds the modern record for most forced fumbles in a game, and with seven this season, he could easily exceed the record of 10 forced fumbles by Osi Umenyiora (2010) and Dwayne Harper (1993). If not for the monster season J.J. Watt is having for Houston, Tillman would be a leading candidate for defensive player of the year.

According to Pro-Football-Reference’s Expected Points Added analysis, Chicago ranks as the best defense in the league by far; however, the Bears rank just 20th in offensive expected points added. According to Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders, the Bears rank first in both defense and special teams in his advanced statistical efficiency ratings. According to Schatz, only one team in the last 20 years, the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, had a higher-ranked defense through nine weeks than the 2012 Bears.

For Chicago, 2012 feels a lot like 2001 or 2005 or 2006 or 2010, only more so. The defense is as dominant as ever and the special teams have been outstanding. But whether Chicago can finally win another Super Bowl may depend on how the offense operates. With Matt Forte, Chicago has its most effective offensive weapon during this stretch, but in 2012, success in the passing game is paramount. According to ESPN’s Total QBR, Jay Cutler ranked as the 20th-best quarterback before Monday night’s game. Even worse, Cutler is averaging just 5.7 net yards per pass attempt, placing him 26th in the N.F.L. Even though the Bears have a dominant defense, to defeat the Giants, Packers, Falcons and 49ers, the Bears can’t afford to have Jay Cutler play like the 26th-best quarterback in the league.

In rookie news, Tampa Bay’s Doug Martin rushed for 251 yards and scored four touchdowns against the Raiders on Sunday. Martin has rushed for 386 yards in the last two games and gained 100 receiving yards; combined, his 486 yards from scrimmage over the last two games ranks fourth on the career list, behind efforts by Walter Payton, Jim Brown, and O.J. Simpson.

Andrew Luck set the rookie record for passing yards in a game when he threw for 433 yards against the Dolphins. Luck also led the Colts to a comeback victory, and his four fourth-quarter comeback wins this year lead the league. And Luck is now up to fourth in ESPN’s Total Quarterback Rating. But the real glitch in the matrix? Both Andrew Luck and Peyton Manning have thrown for 2,404 yards this year and have 5-3 records.

An earlier version of this post misstated that Tony Dungy was the coach of the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a sentence that has been deleted.