On a bright note, the Bears' defense can only get better

CHICAGO - Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher was a man of few words Sunday. His defensive brethren weren't as successful in keeping their frustration from spilling out.

The mood inside Chicago's locker room was decidedly dour after Adrian Peterson and the Vikings offense shredded the Bears defense in Minnesota's 34-31 victory at Soldier Field.

The performance was so deflating that one player wondered whether the defense is still searching for its identity, while several others sounded alarmed.

"If there is a panic button around, we need to race to it," defensive end Alex Brown said.

The Bears sounded equally impressed and frustrated after watching the Vikings rush for 311 yards, including 224 yards and three touchdowns by Peterson, whose rushing total was the highest ever against Chicago.

The Bears entered the game ranked 12th in the NFL in rushing defense, allowing 98.8 yards per game. Heck, Chester Taylor rushed for 83 yards and became a footnote.

"We haven't played defense that way in a long time," Bears coach Lovie Smith said.

His players were less diplomatic.

"We played horrible," Brown said. "[Peterson] is a good player, but dang, we shouldn't give up that many yards rushing. That was nuts. We couldn't tackle. We lost this game. I know all the coaches and everybody is going to say, 'We win as a team, we lose as a team.' But the defense lost this game."

The defense allowed 444 total yards to the NFL's 20th-ranked offense. The Vikings had touchdown plays of 60, 67, 73 and 35 yards.

The Bears looked inept against the run and had an inordinate number of missed tackles. That left Urlacher, who tallied only five tackles, visibly frustrated and clearly in no mood to discuss the breakdowns.

Surrounded by a group of reporters, Urlacher gave either one-word answers or short, single-sentence responses.

Asked how to fix the defense, he replied: "Got to play better."

OK then.

Sunday's game looked like rock bottom, but the Bears have not been particularly pleased with their defense of late. They allowed 439 yards to Green Bay last week and 431 to Dallas three weeks ago. They were ranked 23rd in the NFL in total defense this week.

"We've been talked about for so many years about being the best defense and all this," defensive tackle Tommie Harris said. "The last couple of games we haven't played well on defense. We're just not helping our offense. We can sit here and make up all the excuses. But [Peterson] made our defense look pretty bad today. Since I've been here this is the toughest game that I've played in."

Chip Scoggins • ascoggins@startribune.com