Mike Triplett, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Saints can't afford to relax after impressive victory

CHICAGO -- The New Orleans Saints shocked their season back to life once again Monday with a thorough 31-15 thrashing of a Chicago Bears team that was walking dead.

It was an impressive display of resilience from a team that had hit rock bottom just a week earlier with a 31-point loss at home to the Carolina Panthers.

But we've seen this act before from these Saints (6-8). Now the question is: Will they finally take advantage?

Will they finally build off a performance like this and come back with an even bigger win six days from now at home against the 5-9 Atlanta Falcons?

Somehow, the Saints still control their own destiny in the pitiful NFC South. Now they need to prove they actually deserve it.

"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 after his 375 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions helped the Saints jump to a 21-0 lead before a lukewarm finish.

The last time the Saints took over sole possession of first place in the NFC South, in Week 9, they responded by losing their next three games -- all at home.

Then they had an apparent season-saving win at Pittsburgh in Week 13 -- and followed up with that epic fail against the Panthers.

"Oh, man, learning how to handle success is as important or more important than handling the adversity," Brees said. "Typically when you lose a game, everybody's coming in and you're real hard on yourself, coaches are on you, that week of practice is amped up a little bit. But the tendency after success is to relax, and it's not time to relax.

"It's time to, man, hit the pedal to the metal and continue to get better."

The atmosphere around Saints camp last week was as intense as it's ever been in the Sean Payton regime, according to longtime running back Pierre Thomas. Veteran players demanded more maturity and professionalism out of the team. A couple of guys were demoted, another got cut and an increased sense of urgency was demanded from everyone.

And they delivered. Especially the defense, which had seemingly established itself as the worst in the NFL a week earlier (at least according to ESPN Stats & Information's efficiency ratings).

Sure, the abysmal Bears offense did everything but take a knee from the opening series. But the Saints pounced on quarterback Jay Cutler like a wounded animal with a season-high seven sacks and a season-high three interceptions.

At times, the performance was a bit sloppy on both sides of the ball. But it was fiery. Payton's opening statement after the game was, "I was pleased with the energy level" -- a complete 180 from the previous week, when he opened with the word "embarrassing."

"We had seven sacks today?" said Saints defensive end Akiem Hicks, who had his best individual play of the season when he sacked both Cutler and the offensive lineman who tried to get in between them. "I don't think anybody was counting. We were just trying to get in there and get some."

To a man, however, the Saints insisted that they can't be satisfied -- a problem that has plagued them too often this season.

Heck, it was probably the Saints' problem to start with, since so many people dumped Super Bowl expectations onto them.

"I'm proud of [the effort]," said Saints safety Kenny Vaccaro, who responded Monday night after being the one individual who was called out more publicly than any other. "At the same time, I shouldn't be proud of effort. It should be like that every game."

"We know how good we can be. We also know how bad we can be. That's the thing this year," said outside linebacker Junior Galette, who had two sacks despite being limited by a knee injury.

"The message is always heard. We have the best coaches in the business," Galette said. "I just know on defense, we have a lot of young guys. It hasn't been as consistent as we usually are. Obviously, we have some growing pains.

"At the end of the day, we're still talented, and I still feel like we have a shot at this thing."

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