Coach Lovie Smith discusses the Bears’ playoff win over the Seahawks and preparations for Sunday’s NFC Championship Game against the Saints exclusively on ChicagoBears.com:

We’ve talked about finishing the job and we took another step toward achieving our ultimate goal Sunday when we defeated Seattle. Last year there was disappointment like you wouldn’t believe after we lost to Carolina and this year there was excitement like you wouldn’t believe after we were able to move on to the next round.

Until you win in the playoffs, you’re going to be labeled. Looking at it from that point of view, you have to win in the playoffs to be considered a legitimate team. We did a great job in the regular season, but it’s a new season in the playoffs and you want to continue to win.

Last week we started talking to our players about the magnitude of the playoffs. The tension picked up last week and each week you win it’ll pick up a little bit more. We talked to them a little bit about that, but I think they understand that now. As much as anything, what we need to do is just concentrate on why we’re here and what we’ve done to continue to play.

As far as the younger guys, what’s really tough is the first playoff game and I think we saw a little bit of the rookie jitters maybe in that. But I think we’ve gotten that out of our system now and the team knows exactly what to expect, and we’ll take this next step together.

I can’t say enough about our fans. They’ve been the same all year. You want to peak at the right time and they peaked Sunday. They’ve been super all year, but they were really outstanding when we needed them most. They’ve had a lot to do with all of the wins we’ve had at Soldier Field, and that was definitely the case again this past week against Seattle.

We’re going to call on them again this week because the four phases together are a tough combination to beat here in Chicago.