Three Takeaways from Bears' blowout win over Browns

Matt Marton - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 4 hours ago

When you talk about a dominating performance in all three phases of football, look no further than what the Chicago Bears did against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. While the score may have said 31-3, that doesn't tell the entire story as the Bears dominated the Browns from start to finish in a complete effort.

The offense put up better than 400 yards against one of the game's best defenses, the defense racked up four sacks and three interceptions, and even the special teams played well despite Cairo Santos missing a first-half field goal. All in all, this was one of the more complete performances by the Bears all season, regardless of who their opponent was.

Here are some takeaways from the blowout win:

Turnovers reign supreme

We have been saying this for a while now. When the Bears are at their best, they are turning teams over on the defensive side of the ball. All you have to do is look at their four losses compared to their 10 wins. In those losses, Chicago has forced a total of three turnovers, one of which came against the Packers last week.

In their 10 wins, Chicago has been turning teams over at will, averaging 27, and they added three more to that total on Sunday. All three came via the Interception as the Bears now have 20 interceptions and 30 turnovers this season. Both lead the NFL as the Chicago defense is starting to round into form at the perfect time.

While the Bears would love for the defense to be more consistent in yards allowed, they are going to live and die by the turnovers they force. As long as they consistently force turnovers, the Bears are going to have a chance against anyone, which is scary to think about during the closing month of the season.

Cause for concern with Odunze and Burden

There is no question that the Bears have been dealing with far too many injuries this season, but things may have gotten worse on the injury front this weekend. Not only did Rome Odunze aggravate his foot injury pre-game, but Luther Burden also left the game with an injury in the second half, leaving Chicago down two of its premier receivers against the Packers.

Beating Green Bay is tough enough for this team when healthy, but to do it down two of your better offensive players will be an entirely different challenge for the Bears. While it is unclear how severely injured Burden is, the Odunze injury is more concerning, especially considering he re-injured his foot in pregame.

That has been the most frustrating part of all the Bears' injuries this season, as, for whatever reason, the team seems to struggle with injury recovery, leading to longer recovery times than usual. Chicago would love to figure out the cause of all the constant aggravated injuries, but this is football, and you have to figure out how to win games no matter the situation thrown your way.

Balanced attack

The number 110 may not mean much to the casual football fan, but it is very significant to the Bears. We have been talking about this offense all season long, and the overall improvements they have made, with Ben Johnson making a massive difference.

The result has been a top-10 offense in most categories, and that will only improve as this group continues to play together and gain chemistry. To show you how lethal their offense can be, Chicago is the only team in the NFL this season to have at least 110 first downs both on the ground and through the air.

In an era when throwing the football is king, that is an impressive feat, as it shows how unpredictable this offense can be. For the most part, it has been the rushing attack that has moved the chains more often than not, but you can't sleep on Williams and his arm. Sunday marked the first time in two months that he completed more than 60 percent of his passes, and that is a positive sign given what is to come for this team.