LAKE FOREST, Ill. – No one has enjoyed watching the undefeated Bears obliterate five of their first seven opponents more than Lovie Smith, but the reigning NFL Coach of the Year cautions against expecting the lopsided victories to continue.

“Sure, the road is going to get tougher,” said Smith, whose team has won games by margins of 33, 31, 31, 27 and 26 points. “I don’t know how it’s happened or why it’s happened, but going into each football game we talk about getting a win.

Veteran Adewale Ogunleye and the Bears defense have allowed the fewest points and yards in the NFL.

" We would like for games to happen like they have the few times this year, but it’s not going to be like that most of the year. We have a big stretch of our season coming up right now, starting out with this week, and we’re going into every football game expecting to have a close game. That’s why we talk about finishing the game, and most of the time we’ll have to do that.”

The first-place Bears have shown the ability to come from behind, rallying to beat the Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals in dramatic fashion. But their five blowout victories—four of which have occurred at Soldier Field—have all followed a similar pattern.

With Rex Grossman fueling a revitalized passing game, the Bears have put up points in record numbers. Playing with a big lead, Chicago’s aggressive defense has been able to tee off on opposing quarterbacks who are forced to put the ball in the air with regularity.

“Some of the games have gotten out of hand because it puts teams in a passing mode where they have to catch up,” Grossman said. “When they do that, they get out of their game plan and it allows our pass rushers and our defense to really get after them. I think that our team is set up that if we do get a lead it can really cause havoc on some teams, and we’ve done that.”

The Bears (7-0) are once again a double-digit favorite over the struggling Miami Dolphins (1-6) Sunday at Soldier Field. Chicago leads the NFL in points scored with 221 and points allowed with 69, a 152-point differential that is the league’s largest through seven games since 1966 when the Dallas Cowboys outscored their first seven opponents by 160 points.

The only two teams to lead the NFL in points scored and points allowed since the 1970 NFL/AFL merger have been a pair of Super Bowl champions, the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins and the 1996 Green Bay Packers.

“To be winning by such big margins is probably the only surprise because a lot of teams, we’re just going through them,” said cornerback Ricky Manning Jr. “We’re playing good ball right now. We’re forcing other teams to make a lot of mistakes. (The team’s success) is not really a surprise, but we didn’t go in expecting to (blowout opponent after opponent).”

Ranked No. 1 in power rankings by several national media outlets, the Bears are 7-0 for the first time since the 1985 Super Bowl champions won their first 12 games. Through the first seven games, Chicago has scored its most points since 1956 and permitted its fewest since 1937.

In last Sunday’s 41-10 win over the 49ers, the Bears scored their most points since Sept. 26, 1993 when they defeated the Buccaneers 47-17 for Dave Wannstedt’s first win as head coach.

Defensively, the Bears are ranked No. 1 in total yards and are on pace to allow 158 points this season, which would eclipse the record of 165 points for a 16-game schedule set by the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens in 2000.

The Bears ranked second in the NFL in total defense last year, losing their grip on the No. 1 spot when they rested several starters in a meaningless season finale at Minnesota. Chicago has not led the league in defense since doing so for three straight years in 1984-86.

“Obviously it’s a goal for the defense to be the No. 1 defense,” said linebacker Lance Briggs. “But we have eight games after this week to maintain our No. 1 standing. It’s nice to be up there, but you want to be up there at the end.”

While the Bears have a difficult stretch ahead with three straight road games against the Giants, Jets and Patriots, they’re not looking past the Dolphins—especially not after they were forced to stage a furious rally to escape with a miraculous one-point victory in Arizona.

“We still have that in the back of our heads,” said defensive end Adewale Ogunleye.

“Everyone said Arizona’s not good,” said cornerback Charles Tillman. “We were supposed to blow them out, and look what happened. They played a great game. They came out and hit us in the mouth and we didn’t respond until the second half. If you look at it on paper, they don’t look like a good team. But on the field they are actually a great team.

"I think Miami’s the same way. On any given Sunday, any team can do anything, whether you’re 10-0, 8-0 or 0-10. Your record has nothing to do with it. We’re all professionals here. This is the NFL. This is the best athletes in the world doing this job. Miami has a bunch of Pro Bowlers. They’ve got a bunch of professionals just like us. The best team will win. I hope it’s us; it could be them. You just never know. You’ve just got to play hard. That’s how you’re going to find out.”