Ten thoughts after the Chicago Bears opened the Marc Trestman era Sunday with a 24-21 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals at Soldier Field. 1. In the locker room before the game, Roberto Garza told rookie right tackle Jordan Mills that he still has pregame jitters in his 13th season. It was the center’s way of trying to calm Mills as he prepared for his debut next to first-round draft pick Kyle Long, the right guard. It marked the first time since 1983 the Bears played two rookies on the offensive line in the season opener. Jim Covert, the first-round pick from Pitt, and Rob Fada, a ninth-round pick from Pitt, started at left tackle and left guard, respectively. Covert went on to a fine Bears career while and Fada, who was filling in for the injured Noah Jackson, was gone after two seasons. The Bears are hoping they get much more out of Mills. “Coming from the hotel I was fine,” Mills said. “Then I got here and it got close to game time and I started getting a little pregame jitters. Garza was telling me, 'I still get pregame jitters' and I know you won’t have any because you are a rookie. I was just telling him, 'I’m fine,' but I was sitting here shaking.” All it took was the opening series – even if it was a three-and-punt – for Mills to settle in. Was he really shaking? “A little bit,” Mills admitted. “But when I got in that first series, that first hit, I was OK.” The Bears will go through the film on Monday at Halas Hall and there will be plenty of points for Mills and Long to work on, but quarterback Jay Cutler was not sacked and that is a big step in the right direction. The rookies don’t have to be Pro Bowl players for the Bears to be much improved up front, but they do have to be consistent from week to week. Trestman called a run to the right side on fourth-and-1 in the fourth quarter at the Bengals’ 27-yard line with the Bears trailing 21-17. Matt Forte didn’t run behind Long and Mills as much as he went around end on a G-lead. Mills blocked down on defensive tackle Geno Atkins, tight end Martellus Bennett blocked down on defensive end Robert Geathers and Long pulled blocking safety Taylor Mays a little and got in the way of middle linebacker Rey Maualuga before fullback Tony Fiammetta finished a block on Mays that opened up the corner. It’s a situation where a lot of teams call for a quarterback sneak – the Bears needed less than a half-yard – and the defense was expecting it to come up the middle. “I was thinking in my head, ‘I gotta make my block,’” Mills said. “That’s the only thing to help my team win, make my block, and concentrate on what I had to do to help my team the most.” Mills helped seal the game when he drew an unnecessary roughness penalty on Maualuga with about 1:10 remaining when the Bengals had gotten a stop that was going to force the Bears to punt. Mills blocked Maualuga away from the play and in frustration Maualuga threw him down. “I didn’t say anything,” Mills said. “It was crunch time. We needed a first down to win the game. I came off the line and I had to block him and I was not going to let him go. He kind of got mad because I was blocking him. He is a great player. He made a mistake and even though I wanted to retaliate I had to keep my composure because me hitting him back is a selfish play and I could have lost the game for my team. I kept my composure, clapped it up and we got the penalty and walked back to the line.” Mills is interested to sit through a film review and see how that goes. “I always say I am my own worst critic,” he said. “I think I did OK but the film will show how well I did. I was going into it taking one play at a time. I felt like I did OK. Coach had a smile on his face. He said I did good. We’re going to see tomorrow how I did.” 2. The Bears made some significant plays to climb back into this game after falling behind 21-10 with 7:52 remaining. At that point, the Bengals led in yardage 325-97 and the score should have been more lopsided.



*The Bears’ first touchdown came on a short field after Charles Tillman jumped A.J. Green’s route on a short in-route and intercepted, setting up the offense on the Bengals’ 36-yard line. *Cincinnati could have nearly run out the clock in the second quarter before punting as it was backed up deep in its own end. But the Bengals called for Andy Dalton to pass on second-and-14 from his own 8-yard line and the incompletion stopped the clock with 56 seconds remaining. After a run on the next play, the Bears used their final timeout of the half and forced Cincinnati to punt with 49 seconds left. Had the Bengals run on second and third downs, there would have been about 15 seconds on the clock at the time of the punt. “You want to pull our pants completely down and not play at all right before halftime?” Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said when asked if the Bengals made an error. “I’ve got to give them a chance. They’ve got a timeout left, there’s enough time on the clock that they ended up getting a field goal anyway. I’m trying to make a first down. I just don’t want to give up, or you’d be writing the other side of that story.”

*Making matters worse, Dre Kirkpatrick was called for a personal foul on the punt and that moved the Bears to the Bengals’ 44-yard line with 42 seconds remaining and was just enough to lead to Robbie Gould’s franchise record 58-yard field goal. If the Bengals manage the clock better and if Kirkpatrick isn’t called for a dumb penalty, the Bears probably don’t score just before halftime. *Mohamed Sanu’s fumble in the fourth quarter at the Bears’ 17-yard line was disastrous. Sanu had defenders approaching and didn’t wrap up as cornerback Tim Jennings jarred the ball out with the Bengals leading 21-17 and in the red zone. *On the ensuing drive the Bengals wasted their second and third timeouts of the half – first for having only 10 men on the field and then for having 12 on the field. That’s a lack of organization and that is on Lewis and his coaching staff. It’s difficult to run out the clock in an NFL game and the Bears were able to grind out the final 6:38. That was made significantly easier because Lewis didn’t have those timeouts at his disposal. “We lost our composure a little bit,” Lewis said. “Got outplayed and made it difficult on ourselves.” That’s an understatement. The Bears deserve credit for rallying to victory but the Bengals deserve scorn for throwing this game away. 3. Charles Tillman was nowhere to be found in the locker room after the game and the word was he was sick. Tillman had to sit out for a little bit in the first half and WBBM-AM 780 reported he was dehydrated. Tillman made two interceptions for the second time in his career. He now has 35, leaving him just three behind franchise leader Gary Fencik and two behind Richie Petitbon. The first interception was a terrific play. Tillman was reading Dalton and with free safety Chris Conte blitzing, he figured the ball would have to come out quickly. It did and he made the play. The second pick, in the second quarter, was the result of A.J. Green having a ball bounce off his hands on a play that should have set up the Bengals inside the red zone. Green also faked inside and went out for an easy two-yard touchdown catch, outmaneuvered Tillman for a 45-yard reception and drew a 34-yard pass interference penalty against the cornerback. So, there was some up and down to Tillman’s day. Green finished with nine receptions for 162 yards and not all of it came on Tillman. Green is an elite receiver and will have big games. “He’s good. He’s a great corner, man,” Green said of Tillman. “Very crafty. Probably one of the best in the game, one of the best I’ve went up against.” Defensive coordinator Mel Tucker showed he is willing to have Tillman shadow an opponent, something Lovie Smith’s staff did on occasion. Tillman draws Detroit’s Calvin Johnson in coverage and they generally used him against big, physical receivers from the opposition. 4. Martellus Bennett made only three receptions but he scored on his first catch – an eight-yard play at the back of the end zone when he held on to the ball over Bengals safety Georke Iloka – and his 30-yard play on an improvisation by Jay Cutler was one of the biggest of the game. The Bears were facing third-and-7 on their own 35 midway through the third quarter and trailing by 11. Cincinnati rushed seven defenders and Cutler was able to escape the pocket to his right. Nickel cornerback Adam Jones was on Bennett in the flat but the threat of Cutler tucking and running sucked him up. Cutler then dumped it over Jones’ head and Bennett rumbled up the sideline for 30 yards. I’d expect Bennett to be more involved in the weeks ahead. He was targeted six times and Cutler lamented missing him on his interception in the fourth quarter. Bennett was open across the middle of the field when Cutler’s left shoulder was hit by defensive end Michael Johnson as he threw. It could have been a big gain. Remember, Cutler always has liked throwing to tight ends in the red zone. Kellen Davis and Matt Spaeth combined for 10 touchdown catches over the previous two seasons. Maybe Bennett could approach that number this season. It wasn’t a perfect game, though. Bennett dropped the first pass Cutler threw his way and he was also called for two holding penalties. “I missed the first catch,” he said. “Jittery, first game, Soldier Field, anxious. I tried to do too much with the first one, so it was good to come back with a strong catch (on the touchdown). It was just two guys trying to get open and make a play, and (Cutler) trusted me enough just to put it up there, where I could get it, over the defenders, and I was able to come down with it. I had to channel my inner Brandon Marshall. “My first (target) ended up being a drop as a Bear. I bet everyone was like, ‘Here we go again.’ But, yes, my first catch was a touchdown, which was big. That’s what I’m here for, to try and score as many as I get. The guys were happy for me, and I’m just excited to be out there.” 5. Lance Briggs made a big play when he stuffed BenJarvus Green-Ellis for a four-yard loss on first-and-goal from the 1-yard line in the third quarter. But it was a relatively quiet game for the linebackers. According to press box statistics, Briggs had seven tackles, James Anderson made five and D.J. Williams was credited for three.

The biggest play by a linebacker might have been Anderson deflecting Dalton’s pass for Marvin Jones in the fourth quarter. The Bengals were facing third-and-10 on their own 20 and Anderson showed a blitz in the A gap along with Briggs. On the snap, Anderson dropped into zone coverage with defensive end Julius Peppers also dropping off as Briggs and strong safety Major Wright blitzed. Dalton threw early and Anderson was there to deflect the pass with his left hand. 6. The lack of a pass rush has to be something the Bears want to focus on this week. Sure, Dalton was getting rid of the ball quickly. The Bengals were using a similar approach to the Bears', working to keep the pass rush at bay. But Dalton needed time for some throws downfield to Green and he got it. Cincinnati was without starting left tackle Andrew Whitworth, sidelined with a knee injury, and Julius Peppers did little to dominate fill-in Anthony Collins. Shea McClellin picked up the only sack on a zone pressure, two plays before James Anderson’s big pass breakup. Peppers actually dropped off in coverage on running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis. Anderson and middle linebacker D.J. Williams blitzed and McClellin looped around from the outside to come free right up the middle. That made it a positive first start for McClellin, who had 2 1/2 sacks as a rookie last year. “It’s always good to get that first one out of the way,” he said. “More importantly, we won the game. “(Dalton) was throwing it quick. It’s hard to get pressure. You just can’t get frustrated and you keep rushing.” Defensive tackle Henry Melton also said Dalton was throwing quickly but the defense came up with stops when it needed to in the third and fourth quarters. “Shea had a big sack at the end and put them in long distance and stopped them on third down,” Melton said. “We had a good gameplan. We make them be perfect. If you’re not perfect, we’re going to get a turnover.” 7. The Bears used an abundance of multi-tight end sets with at least two on the field for 28 of the 61 offensive snaps. To do that effectively in the weeks to come, they probably will have to involve other tight ends besides Martellus Bennett in the passing game. Steve Maneri was on the field for 17 snaps and Kyle Adams for 11 and neither was targeted with a pass. That was something the Bengals did pretty well. Veteran Jermaine Gresham caught five passes for 35 yards and rookie first-round pick Tyler Eifert had five catches for 47 yards. Both were tough to tackle for the Bears. 8. Right guard Kyle Long chatted it up a little bit with Bengals defensive tackle Geno Atkins after the game. What did the rookie have to say to the freshly minted Atkins, who signed a $54.75 million, five-year extension last Monday? “I told him my sleep cycle will probably be back to normal after I am done playing him,” Long said. “It’s been a weird week. He’s a great player. They have a lot of great players upfront on their defense. He’s a good guy and he’s a great competitor.” 9. Five of the seven inactives for the Bears were rookies, including wide receiver Marquess Wilson, the seventh-round pick from Washington State. It remains to be seen what it will take for him to work his way into a game plan, short of an injury or two. Only three wide receivers got snaps during the game: starters Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery and also Earl Bennett, who was on the field for 18 snaps. Eric Weems and Joe Anderson were limited to special teams only. “Marquess is doing well,” wide receivers coach Mike Groh said. “He has been sharp on his assignments and has worked hard with everything we have given him.” Bennett really did not get on the field offensively as a rookie in 2008 and the biggest reason why was the coaching staff was having him learn three positions at one time. Wilson is responsible for knowing more than one spot as Groh explains but maybe not like before. “Formationally, we can line up a guy anywhere in this offense,” Groh said. “I think it boxes us in when you say, ‘Well, he just plays one spot.’ They really don’t. They might carry one letter with them but they can line up (anywhere) and they can all do the same things based on how we call the formations.” Wilson is an X receiver and typically the X lines up opposite the tight end in the formation. “I think it helps when you don’t have to say, ‘Well, I am the F on this play and I am the Z on this play,’” Groh said. “It’s simplified a little bit that way. There are other guys in the offense -- Earl, Brandon, Eric -- that all know multiple spots. So you could go from F to X to Z while you are standing in the huddle. But Marquess right now is just playing X but that doesn’t mean he can’t line up all over.” The Bears want Wilson, 20, to get strong during the season and players are in the weight room two or three days per week. “I am sure he would like to get bigger and stronger and continue his strength development at 20 years old,” Groh said. “Obviously, that is a little more challenging in the season but the mindset for me has always been we are not trying to maintain, we are trying to get stronger and I think he will. (Strength coach) Mike (Clark) does a really good job with those guys. We’ve got great nutrition in here and he’s still growing. He’s going to get bigger and stronger.”