After a Saints field goal made it 3-0, Jay Cutler lost a fumble on the first play of the Bears' second possession when he was sacked by blitzing safety Malcolm Jenkins. New Orleans defensive end Cameron Jordan returned the fumble 11 yards to the Chicago 6.

The Bears defense held following the turnover, forcing the Saints to settle for Garrett Hartley's 19-yard field goal, extending their lead to 6-0.

The Bears struggled picking up Saints blitzes early as New Orleans recorded three sacks in the game's first 16 minutes.

Jay Cutler rebounded from the game's only turnover, completing 24 of 33 passes for 358 yards with two touchdowns and a stellar 128.1 passer rating, his highest in a loss in his eight-year NFL career.

On the Bears' first five drives, they mustered just two first downs and didn't advance beyond their own 35-yard line.

Drew Brees' 2-yard touchdown pass to Pierre Thomas gave New Orleans a 13-0 lead midway through the second quarter.

Dumping the ball off most of the game, Drew Brees completed 29 of 35 passes for 288 yards with two touchdowns, no interceptions and a 120.0 passer rating.

The Bears offense finally awakened as Jay Cutler engineered a seven-play, 80-yard drive capped by a 3-yard TD pass to Alshon Jeffery, cutting the deficit to 13-7 with 2:41 left in the second quarter.

The Saints got the points right back as Pierre Thomas turned a perfectly-executed screen pass from Drew Brees into a 25-yard TD, widening the margin to 20-7 with :23 remaining in the half.

After Garrett Hartley's 36-yard field goal made it 23-7, the Bears closed to within 23-10 on Robbie Gould's 27-yard field goal after three straight Jay Cutler incompletions from the New Orleans 9.

Looking to climb to within one touchdown, Jay Cutler drove the Bears from their own 1 to the Saints' 25. But his pass on fourth-and-two was dropped by Earl Bennett with 8:40 to play.

After Garrett Hartley's 48-yard field goal widened the margin to 26-10, Jay Cutler's 2-yard TD pass to Brandon Marshall and Matt Forte's subsequent two-point conversion run made it 26-18 with 2:11 to go.

Alshon Jeffery continued to shine, setting a Bears single-game receiving record with 218 yards on a career-high 10 receptions.

The Bears entered Week 5 with an NFL-high 14 takeaways, but they were blanked in that category for the first time since last Nov. 19 in a 32-7 loss to the 49ers.

With a two-yard run early in the third quarter, Matt Forte surpassed Rick Casares to become the third all-time leading rusher in Bears history.

Despite their second straight loss, the Bears (3-2) remained tied with the Lions (3-2) atop the NFC North, a half-game ahead of the Packers (2-2).