CHICAGO – The opportunistic big-play defense that has been a Bears staple during Lovie Smith’s six seasons as coach finally reappeared Sunday at Soldier Field.

Showing vast improvement in two key areas, the Bears generated a season-high five takeaways and allowed the woeful Cleveland Browns to convert just 1-of-11 third-down opportunities in a 30-6 pasting.

This Danieal Manning fumble recovery was one of five Bears takeaways in Sunday's 30-6 win over the Browns at Soldier Field.

“Defensively, that’s what we’ve been looking for,” Smith said. “That’s a part of our philosophy, our approach to winning football games. I think you have to get takeaways on defense and you have to be good on third-down conversions, which we were.”

With the win, the Bears (4-3) snapped a two-game losing streak and pulled into a second-place tie in the NFC North with the Packers (4-3), who lost to the division-leading Vikings (7-1) Sunday.

The Bears scored 20 points off turnovers against the mistake-prone Browns. Chicago’s defense made up for a sluggish offense that appeared out of sync and again struggled in the red zone.

Danieal Manning started the takeaway parade with a diving interception late in the first quarter, and Charles Tillman ended it with a 21-yard interception return for a touchdown that capped the scoring with 3:14 remaining in the game. It was the Bears’ first defensive touchdown of the season.

“We talk about [takeaways] every week,” said Manning, who also caused and recovered a fumble. “Personally, I feel like we were forcing too much and not letting the game come to us. This week we relaxed, trusted in the scheme and trusted in one another, and those turnovers started to come.”

Offensively, the Bears struggled early. They went three-and-out on their first two possessions, and then settled for Robbie Gould field goals of 37, 29 and 32 yards after reaching the Cleveland 9, 11 and 3.

The Bears finally got into the end zone on Matt Forte’s 1-yard dive with 1:56 left in the first half, increasing their lead to 16-0. Their first touchdown capped a 10-play, 71-yard drive that was sustained by a 15-yard penalty for roughing-the-passer on a third-down incompletion.

The flag was thrown against linebacker Kamerion Wimbley for a vicious helmet-to-chin shot on Jay Cutler. The Bears quarterback was battered throughout the game by the Browns, who were credited with four sacks and seven quarterback hits. On one play, 6-4, 350-pound defensive tackle Shaun Rogers charged up the middle and slammed Cutler to his back, landing on top of him.

“Today we were able to get some points when the defense got the takeaways, which was big,” Smith said. “Of course we’d like to be able to get touchdowns, and Jay got hit a few more times than we would like for him to today. But 30 points up on the board, you like to see that.”

The Browns offense showed why Cleveland fans are planning a protest at their next home game. Quarterback Derek Anderson, who entered the contest as the NFL’s lowest-rated passer, completed just 6 of 17 passes for 76 yards with no TDs, two interceptions and an anemic 10.5 passer rating.

The Bears held decisive advantages over the hapless Browns (1-7) in total yards (369-191), first downs (20-9) and time of possession (37:25-22:35). In the first half, Anderson completed just 2 of 9 passes for 13 yards with one interception and a Blutarski-like 0.0 passer rating.

The Browns closed the gap to 16-6 on Anderson’s 1-yard TD plunge early in the third quarter. Cleveland started its lone scoring drive at the Bears’ 30 after Brad Maynard shanked a 12-yard punt out of bounds. Israel Idonije followed by blocking Phil Dawson’s extra point attempt.

Manning made another big play, stripping tight end Steve Heiden after a 10-yard reception and recovering the loose ball at the Cleveland 49. Four plays later, Forte’s 10-yard TD run widened the margin to 23-6 with 1:42 remaining in the third quarter.

Matt Forte rushed for 90 yards and 2 TDs on 26 carries in Sunday's win over the Browns.

The Bears had a chance to add to their lead midway through the fourth period when Devin Hester turned a short pass into a 33-yard gain to the Cleveland 2. But after Cutler threw the ball away on first down, Forte was stopped for no gain on second down and held to one-yard on third down.

On fourth-and-goal from the 1, Cutler’s pass intended for Desmond Clark in the left corner of the end zone was batted down by Wimbley. 

Asked about the failure to come away with points in that situation, offensive coordinator Ron Turner said: “It’s frustrating, but not a whole lot more than a lot of other things that went on.”

Turner was visibly upset after the game, telling reporters that the Bears must execute better and improve on the offensive side of the ball both in terms of coaching and playing.

“We’ve got to take a good look at what we’re doing and make sure we’re not doing too much because we’re making too many mistakes that we shouldn’t be making,” Turner said.

Cutler completed 17 of 30 passes for 225 yards with one interception and a 66.7 passer rating. He failed to throw a touchdown pass for the first time in seven games with the Bears.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Cutler said. “It’s good to get a win at home, but offensively we’ve got to get to work. We’ve got to take a look at this and find out what we can do better and where we can make improvements.”