Ten thoughts to take away from the Chicago Bears’ 31-20 victory Sunday over the San Diego Chargers:

1. Here is the challenge for Caleb Hanie: Win three of the final six regular-season games to help guide the Chicago Bears into the playoffs.

Here is the schedule:

Nov. 27 at Oakland

Dec. 4 Kansas City

Dec. 11 at Denver

Dec. 18 Seattle

Dec. 25 at Green Bay

Jan. 1 at Minnesota

If Hanie and the Bears can put a W next to three of those games, they’ll be playing on the weekend of Jan. 7-8

2. The key to winning when backup Kyle Orton ran the show in 2005 was pretty simple — he never got in the way of a young roster that was coming together. Orton’s numbers at the end of the season weren’t pretty. He completed 51.6 percent of his passes for 1,869 yards and nine touchdowns. He threw 13 interceptions. But consider that in 13 of his 15 starts he had one or zero picks. The Cincinnati Bengals feasted on Orton for five interceptions in a Week 3 meltdown. Take that game away, and he didn’t lose any other games. He might not have won them, but he didn’t throw them away.

So, the challenge is for the defense to raise its level of play. That ’05 Bears defense allowed 202 points. This year’s model has already allowed 207, but the defense ranks in the top-third of the NFL in that category.

3. Go figure, Jay Cutler was injured in a game when he wasn’t sacked. It’s the second time in three games he didn’t get sacked, one of the reasons his loss is going to be difficult for the offense to handle. That rhythm and timing that Cutler needed not only with his wide receivers but his offensive line was coming together. Mesh that with the play calling by offensive coordinator Mike Martz, and the thing was working. The proof is on the scoreboard. The Bears scored 30 or more points in the last three games, the first time that’s happened in three consecutive weeks since the middle of the 2005 season. The Bears have scored 30 or more points in six games this season and the offense has had 30 or more in eight of the last 13 regular-season games going back to last season.

4. Jay Cutler’s injury information is the most important business on the plate of the team Monday. But the situation for long snapper Pat Mannelly also needs to be sorted out. Mannelly left the game after injuring his left knee on a Robbie Gould field goal in the first quarter. The medical staff made a preliminary diagnosis of the injury but Mannelly didn’t want to share it.

If Mannelly is sidelined, the bet here is the Bears hold a tryout to find a replacement.

5. Those driving the Charles Tillman for the Pro Bowl train had to tap the brakes as San Diego’s Vincent Jackson posed more problems than Detroit’s Calvin Johnson did a week ago. Like the Bears did with Johnson, they moved Tillman all over the field to cover the 6-5 Jackson. But Jackson consistently got behind Tillman in coverage and made seven receptions for 165 yards. Jackson would give Tillman a slight fake to the outside and then he was by him. The difference in speed was obvious.

6. Just like that, Major Wright has an interception in three consecutive games. Philip Rivers made a terrible decision in floating a pass straight to Wright in the end zone when Vincent Jackson was behind him, but it doesn’t matter how Wright gets them, it’s that he does. That is what the Bears have been seeking in the back end — a playmaker with a nose for the ball. Wright still has a long way to go to be that player consistently. But the more he comes up around the ball and with his hands on it, the better things are going to look for him. He continued to split some time with Brandon Meriweather, but Wright is starting to settle in and the improved play of the safeties has been a big difference from the first month of the season.

7. After execution, the key to any successful trick play is going to be the element of surprise. The Bears certainly had that going for them when they ran a fake punt with 1:59 remaining and facing a fourth-and-8 on the Chargers’ 45-yard line. Punter Adam Podlesh’s throw for a wide open Craig Steltz was just a little too far. The Bears were up 31-20 at the time and the idea was that a completed pass would allow them to run out the clock. Instead, it set the Chargers up at midfield. But fill-in nickel back Corey Graham came up with an interception on the next snap.

8. The Bears are being smart with Devin Hester as he tries to heal up from some minor injuries. He was questionable last week with a sprained ankle when he pulled off another return touchdown. The ankle wasn’t quite the same issue leading up to the Chargers’ game, but Hester was limited to a role on special teams. He returned two punts and had one fair catch and returned three kickoffs. He was also on the field for Nick Novak’s 55-yard field goal try on the final play of the first half when the Bears were hoping he could return a miss out of the end zone.

9. The protracted and sometimes confusing search for an offensive coordinator by the Bears nearly two years ago included the name of Oakland Raiders head coach Hue Jackson, who had been the quarterbacks coach of the Baltimore Ravens, where he got credit for working with Joe Flacco. Jackson’s name came up and he had an interview set up with the Bears, but was never considered a serious candidate for the job. Jackson said he canceled an interview while on his way to Chicago and instead accepted the offensive coordinator job with the Raiders under coach Tom Cable. When Cable got run out in Oakland, Jackson took over and he’s done well since. Seven days after Jackson said he spurned the Bears, the team hired Mike Martz for the job. Martz, of course, is in the final year of his contract. He turned down an extension offer from the club during the offseason.

10. It’s also worth noting veteran Bears players will be able to catch up with Raiders offensive line coach Bob Wylie, who held that position for the Bears from 1999 to 2003. Wylie was very popular with the players in the locker room. He was hired by Hue Jackson during the offseason after splitting duties the year before coaching the line for the Denver Broncos. Wylie was in charge when the Bears had to make a decision between centers — Olin Kreutz and Casey Wiegmann, who is still starting in the NFL for the Kansas City Chiefs. Kreutz and Wiegmann were battling for the job in 1999, Kreutz’s second season in the league. Wylie was new and wasn’t certain how he wanted to handle the competition. He figured because Wiegmann had more experience, he’d let him start the first preseason game against the Indianapolis Colts. Wylie announced his decision with just the two of them in the O-line meeting room. Kreutz walked out of the room, slamming the door so hard the handle blasted a hole in the wall.

Chicago Bears Coach Lovie Smith participated in a teleconference with the New Orleans media Wednesday. Here is a transcript of their conversation:

What worked for your team in week one?

Smith: “It was a great start. You never know, first off, you go through training camp and play preseason games, you never know really know what you have until you get to that first game. For us, we had great practices and we had the core coming back from a very good football team last year, but it was good to see that we were ready to go and we played hard and played well throughout.”

How do you feel like Jay Cutler handled that cloud he was under most of the offseason and came out with a great start?

“That was so long ago when all that stuff happened. We’ve moved so far past all of that. Jay has been great this offseason, I’m talking about his health when he came back for training camp I got to see him for the first time. He did a super job of getting himself ready for the season, getting his body ready to go. He was the first guy in the building for training camp. He had good training camp practices and he hasn’t been an issue. He’s our leader, he’s our quarterback, he knows all quarterbacks in the league have to play well for your team to have success, and he led us. He made all the right moves this past week.”

He looked like a better quarterback than Matt Ryan, who is an elite quarterback in the NFL. Now he’s going up against Drew Brees. How do you think Jay Cutler stacks up against some of these guys?

“Jay isn’t going to play against Drew Brees. Drew is going to play against our defense. I know they’re looking forward to playing against a great player in Drew Brees. You always look forward to playing against one of the best, and Drew is definitely that. But for Jay, and it isn’t just Jay, it’s for the whole group, it’s another great challenge for us. In order for us to achieve our goals, we have to be able to beat some of the better teams in the league and the Saints are one of them. We’ve had a lot of games against them, we have a history with them, and we know what types of games they always are. For us to go and play on the road and play in a dome in a hostile environment, it’s something that we need to do.”

It looked like for a while you were going to play all these games in Chicago?

“We don’t set the schedule, we just play it. You have to be able to win on the road. You have to win at home. We’re not going to apologize for playing those last three games here. We’re looking forward to going down there this week.”

Can you talk about Matt Forte on and off the field?

“He’s a great guy off the field. I’ll never forget him showing up the first day as a rookie. Most of the guys were in jeans, sweats, different things and Matt was in a suit, coat and tie like he was on a business trip. He’s been all business ever since he’s been here. He’s a great guy off the field and the type of guy you want representing our organization. We’ve had a lot of great tailbacks here, so to be the next great tailback in a line of special running backs, you want a guy like Matt. On the field, he can do it all that you’d want a great running back to do. He can run in between tackles, he can make you miss in the open field, he has good size, and has excellent hands. He’s able to catch the ball out of the backfield and we can split him out more as a receiver. Our hands aren’t tied at all as far as what we want to do. We have a lot of options towards using him.”

Everybody compared the Saints-Packers game to an NFC championship preview. Do you like flying under that radar?

“No, we’re not into using playing mind games like that with our guys. I just try to be real with our players always. Our reality is that we were in the NFC Championship game last year. We lost to a good football team by seven points without a (starting) quarterback for half of the game so I don’t think we need to apologize, and if other teams don’t respect us then that’s them. Once the season starts, opinions don’t really matter an awful lot. I feel like we are a good football team and we get an opportunity to show that in each week.”

What do you think of some of the attributes that Jay Cutler has that make him similar to some of the elite quarterbacks in the league?

“I don’t know about other quarterbacks, I don’t know them personally like I know Jay but I can just talk on what Jay brings and that’s everything you’re looking for in an elite quarterback in the league. He has excellent size, he’s mobile in the pocket, he makes very god decisions, he has as strong of an arm as anyone around, just everything you’re looking for in a great quarterback, he has. You normally see improvements in the second year of being in a system, and I was excited about the opportunity for Jay to be in our offensive system for the second year in a row. Everything you’re looking for in an elite quarterback, Jay has.”

Can you go through the club’s thinking with Olin Kreutz?

“I’m not going to walk you through all that. I think you can understand why I’m not going to go into that. I was disappointed that it couldn’t get worked out and Olin couldn’t play for us this year. Every game up until this past week, every game I’ve coached as a head football coach I’ve had Olin there helping us win football games. But it’s a business. We couldn’t come to an agreement and that’s just a part of the NFL. Those kinds of things happen. I’m just proud of the seven years I did have an opportunity to coach Olin. Olin is a lifetime friend. Our relationship is a lot bigger than just football. Since he couldn’t play for us, I was excited that he was able to go to another quality team in the Saints.”