"We gave up 20 yards (rushing). That's decent, right?" LB Brian Urlacher said. "But it doesn't matter. If we don't win, it doesn't matter. Whenever you lose, you don't get production the way you want. You can play defense as good as you want, but it doesn't matter if you lose. We've got to get some more takeaways and some more sacks."

The Bears came into the game leading the NFL with 19 takeaways but got only one vs. the Titans. They came in ranked 28th in sack percentage and got to Collins just once in 41 attempts.

--Three-time Pro Bowl LB Lance Briggs said last week that he considered the Bears the best team in the NFL, even though the Titans were and remain undefeated.

Sunday's 21-14 Bears loss didn't change his mind.

"There's not a team in the world that would change my mind about this team right here that I line up with every week," said Briggs, who was credited with a game-high 13 tackles. "There's not a doubt in my mind. Like I said, when we want to, we'll be there. I think we got a good glimpse of our defense, playing a little bit better (Sunday). It was cause for us to do so and we did, even though we didn't finish."

--With the Packers looming this weekend, coach Lovie Smith was asked if he could rationalize Sunday's loss to an AFC team.

"A loss is a loss," Smith said. "It's disappointing. In the (big) picture of things, if you have to have a loss, an ideal loss, if there is one, is an AFC game on the road. A home game -- it doesn't matter who it is -- you have to be able to defend your home turf. It was a big loss for us."