The Saints led 7-3 at halftime, but dominated the second half and defeated the Bears 21-9 to advance to the divisional round of the NFL playoffs. The defense held Chicago to 239 total yards and just one third down conversion. New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees threw for 265 yards and two touchdowns.
“Despite the first half we felt like we weren’t really able to capitalize on some of the drives and really get some significant points, defense played lights out, special teams played really well, played the field position game at times, it was just great complimentary football all the way around, and sometimes you got to do that to win that’s what the great teams do,” said Brees.
Michael Thomas returned from injured reserve to catch his first touchdown pass of the season and Alvin Kamara came back from the COVID-19/reserve list to rush for 99 yards and a touchdown. Kamara says he felt fresh after not playing last week or practicing leading up to the game.
“I got a bye week, so it helps obviously just having that down time, you have no choice but to sit and recover and get your body back right,” said Kamara. “I felt good out here today, didn’t feel like I missed a beat.”
The win sets up a third game this season against NFC South rival Tampa Bay. New Orleans won the first two match-ups and Brees is looking forward towards another meeting against Tom Brady and the Bucs.
“The minute he signed with the Bucs and came into the division you felt like that was going to be a team contend with that was going to be a team with playoff aspirations and beyond just like us, so I guess it was inevitable,” said Brees.
The Saints beat Tamp Bay in the season opener 34-23 and then humiliated the Bucs 38-3 on November 8th. New Orleans will for the three-game sweep at 5:40 PM on Sunday.
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