Danieal Manning had 179 yards on five kickoff returns in the 27-24 victory over the Saints on Thursday night, which is eight yards more than the Bears had passing. His 83-yard touchdown return of the opening kickoff jump-started the Bears, who have needed a boost in recent weeks. The offense has managed more than 300 yards of total offense just once in the past six games and has averaged just 260 yards. The league average is 325.

For the defense, holding the Saints to 345 yards was an accomplishment, considering they came in as the NFL's No. 1 offense. And limiting Drew Brees and Co. to 24 points was commendable, considering turnovers by the Bears' offense gift-wrapped 21 points of the New Orleans points.

But Manning followed his game-opener with a 52-yard return to set up the Bears' second score, which required a mere 41-yard drive.

"Throughout the game, all of our special teams -- the return game, the coverage units -- all did a good job of keeping us in the football game," Bears coach Lovie Smith said. "Special teams did a great job all day."

Manning leads the NFL with a 29.5-yard kickoff-return average, and he rightfully caught the spotlight Thursday night, as did kicker Robbie Gould with the game-tying and game-winning field goals. Gould is the fourth-most accurate field goal kicker in NFL history with an 85.6 percent success rate, and he trails the Chargers' Nate Kaeding and the Bengals' Shayne Graham, who are tied for second, by one-tenth of a percentage point.

"Any time he's kicking the ball, we're pretty sure it's going to go in," Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher said. "No matter what the situation or how far it is, he's made big kicks his whole career."

The Bears' coverage units, which don't get as much publicity, have also been playing extremely well lately, especially while working in tandem with punter Brad Maynard.

Over the past three games, Maynard has punted 20 times, and opponents have a grand total of two return yards. And Maynard has placed 11 of those 20 kicks inside the opponents' 20-yard line, giving him a league-leading total of 34.

The coverage units have been without leading special-teams tackler, running back Garrett Wolfe, since he was injured on the opening kickoff of the Jaguars game, Dec. 7. Wolfe was placed on injured reserve Friday.

But backup running back Adrian Peterson stepped up in that game with four tackles, tying the team best for the season, and rookie wide receiver Earl Bennett had three special teams tackles. Thursday night, Peterson had two more special teams hits, in addition to briefly taking over as the featured ball carrier when Matt Forte was injured. Forgotten running back Kevin Jones, who had been inactive for the previous four games, volunteered for coverage duty and tied Peterson for game honors with two special teams tackles.

"Kevin has requested to do anything to help the team since Day One," Smith said. "He's been the ultimate team player for us like all of our running backs. How often do you see a team with three running backs that play on special teams? I don't think you can tell me another team where that's the case. They're all unselfish and just want to do whatever they can to help the team."

Part of that has to do with the importance assigned to the third phase by Smith and special teams coordinator Dave Toub. Special teams have always been a priority for Smith's teams, which is why many key offensive and defensive players also contribute on at least one of the specials teams, whether it's covering kicks or returning them.

"Dave Toub and (assistant) Chris Tabor both do a great job," Smith said. "We have players that really buy into special teams being a big part of our success and how we're going to win football games. We talk about it a lot. We put time into it. I think all of those things contribute to us being successful most games with our special teams."

By using starters and other offensive and defensive contributors to help out on special teams, the Bears do more than pay lip service to their importance.

"If you say that that's a big part of the game and it's important, you should have your best players on it," Smith said of special teams. "We've always done it that way. And even though our starters don't play on every special team -- even the guys in the backup roles are excellent special teams players. That's why they're on the football team."