LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Off to the best start in his nine-year NFL career, Adewale Ogunleye credits his early success in part to the arrival of first-year defensive line coach Rod Marinelli.

“My career has been up and down and I think I’ve finally got a guy who’s helped me forget about each play,” Ogunleye said. “Even after the sacks, I don’t think about it. I go and try to get another one or just try to play for the now. I credit coach Marinelli; he’s helping the whole defensive line.”

Bears defensive end Adewale Ogunleye sacks quarterback Matthew Stafford in Sunday's 48-24 win over the Lions.

Ogunleye had 2½ sacks and a fumble recovery in Sunday’s 48-24 win over the Detroit Lions at Soldier Field. He leads the NFC with 4½ sacks and is on pace for 18, which would eclipse his career high of 15 set in 2003 when he played for the Dolphins and break the Bears record of 17½ by Richard Dent in 1984.

Ogunleye helped the Bears register five sacks against the Lions, increasing their season total to 14, which leads the NFC and ranks second in the NFL to the Broncos, who have 15. The Bears are on pace for 56 sacks, which would double last year’s total of 28.

Linebacker Nick Roach and defensive lineman Israel Idonije also had sacks Sunday, while defensive end Alex Brown shared a sack with Ogunleye. Defensive end Mark Anderson wasn’t credited with a sack, but the fourth-year pro pressured Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford into throwing an errant screen pass that was intercepted by defensive tackle Tommie Harris. 

“The pressure was good throughout,” said coach Lovie Smith. “That’s how [the defensive linemen have] played all year, though. We expect that from them. They took the challenge. 

"Adewale had a couple of sacks, but there was good pressure throughout. I’m really pleased with the entire rotation. We had eight linemen [active], and all the contributed.”

Under the knife: Idonije underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Monday morning. The sixth-year pro had been suffering from minor irritation, and the Bears chose to do the procedure in advance of their bye weekend. The surgery was performed by team doctors Mark Bowen and Gordon Nuber. 

It has yet to be determined whether Idonije will miss the Bears' next game, Oct. 18 in Atlanta.

"It's unknown, but we feel pretty good about him coming back quickly," Smith said. "But we'll see how it goes. He's a pretty tough guy. He'll be back out there before long."

On his Facebook page Monday, Idonije thanked well-wishers and wrote "be back for Atlanta."

For Rod: Bears defenders presented a game ball to Marinelli after Sunday’s win. Marinelli joined the Bears in January after being fired by the Lions. He compiled a 10-38 record in three seasons as Detroit’s head coach, including the first 0-16 campaign in NFL history last year.

“He didn’t say one word about Detroit the whole week,” Ogunleye said. “But we knew going in that this was a game that we had to get, one because of our division, and two because of him. The way he puts his heart and soul into coaching, I’m glad we came out with [a season high in sacks] in this game.”

Big switch: The Bears coaching staff made a key halftime adjustment in assigning cornerback Charles Tillman to cover Lions receiver Calvin Johnson on a full-time basis. Johnson had five receptions for 119 yards in the first half but was limited to three catches for 14 yards in the second half.

“My job was easy,” Tillman said. “The d-line, they had the hard job. They made my job easy just because they had a tremendous pass rush. I’m nothing without them. They did a great job.”

The Bears defense held the Lions out of the end zone in the second half after yielding touchdown drives of 73, 72 and 98 yards in the first two quarters.

“Defensively we did not start the way we wanted to,” Smith said. “You have to give them a lot of credit. Detroit did a good job, especially Stafford throwing to Johnson. We weren’t able to stop that in the first half. We made a couple adjustments and did a lot better job with it [in the second half].”

Even the trainers: Lions coach Jim Schwartz didn’t mince words after his team got outscored 27-3 in the second half Sunday, calling it “one of the worst halves of football I’ve ever been associated with.”

“We were poor on special teams, we were poor on offense, we were poor on defense, we were out-coached, we were outplayed, their trainers were probably better than ours in the second half,” Schwartz said.

“So credit goes to them. They came out after halftime and played a really good half of football. We played a poor half of football, and that’s where it is.”