CHICAGO -- Observed and heard in the locker room after the New Orleans Saints' 31-15 victory over the Chicago Bears:

Saints respond: The Saints (6-8) were challenged like never before -- both internally and externally -- after their "embarrassing" 41-10 loss at home to the Carolina Panthers last week. Coach Sean Payton made some roster changes, and he and veteran leaders demanded a sense of urgency. And they got it. Though it wasn't a perfect win, the first words out of Payton's mouth were, "I was pleased with the energy level."

"All year, you hear people saying that you don't know what team is gonna show up. The better Saints team showed up tonight," said outside linebacker Junior Galette, who had two of the Saints' seven sacks. "We were hungrier and more desperate. ... When we play our A-game, we're hard to stop.

"We know how good we can be, but we also know how bad we can be. That's the thing this year."

Vaccaro responds: No individual player was more publicly called out than safety Kenny Vaccaro, whose "demotion" turned out to be a switch back to the nickelback role he thrived in last year. Vaccaro wound up playing an estimated two-thirds of the Saints' defensive snaps -- and he played on all four special teams for the first time in his career. He came up with a huge run stuff when the Bears tried faking a punt.

Payton called Vaccaro's preparation and performance "outstanding." Vaccaro said it was easy for him to switch back to his familiar role, but he's still determined to develop as a true safety going forward. "This will probably be the best year of my career as far as growing mentally," Vaccaro said.

Upping the ante: Now the trick is bringing the same sense of urgency into next week's home date with the Atlanta Falcons (5-9), which could well decide the fate of the NFC South.

"I think we've shown a couple times we can respond from adversity. Let's make sure we can handle success too," quarterback Drew Brees said of a problem that has crept up often with the Saints this year. "Learning how to handle success is as important or more important than handling the adversity."