(My Sportsbook) - Did it really happen again? Did another Miami Dolphins team spoil a Chicago Bears run at immortality? Remarkably, yes.

Sunday's 31-13 victory at Soldier Field may have evoked memories of the night in 1985 at the Orange Bowl when the Dolphins handed the Bears their only loss of that season. This past Sunday's game, however, was much more stunning.

In 1985, remember, the Dolphins were a very good team. They were coming off a Super Bowl appearance -- the only one in the career of the legendary Dan Marino -- the season before and were on their way to a second straight trip to the AFC title game.

As a matter of fact, many thought the December 2 game on Monday night was a preview of that season's Super Bowl. And the teams probably should have met again in New Orleans, since the Dolphins were a better team than the New England Patriots squad that pulled the upset in the AFC Championship Game and was subsequently mauled by the Bears in Super Bowl XX.

All that is in the past. The present-day Dolphins won't remind anyone of the great offensive juggernaut led by Marino and the Marks Brothers of the mid-80s.

But on Sunday, the offense did enough.

The Dolphins took advantage of six Chicago turnovers, converting those into 28 of the team's 31 points. The Bears, by the way, had allowed a total of just 30 points in their first four home games.

Joey Harrington may not have had a Marino-type day, throwing for just 137 yards on 16-of-32 passing with two interceptions, but he did toss three TD passes. He spread the ball around nicely, though, hitting eight different receivers.

Ronnie Brown had the best day of his two-year career, running for 157 yards against the stout Chicago defense. He also caught a pair of passes for 33 yards to give him 190 yards from scrimmage.

But it was definitely the defense that set the tone for the upset.

Jason Taylor was at the forefront. The Pro Bowl defensive end returned an interception 20 yards for a touchdown, came up with a sack and a forced fumble, and pressured the quarterback almost all day.

"Jason Taylor had a fantastic game today with a sack, a forced fumble, an interception, a touchdown, a lot of pressures," said Dolphins head coach Nick Saban after the game. "What a competitor, what a great job he did out there with his leadership, helping a lot of our other players play with confidence."

MEDIA MOTIVATION

Jason Taylor was upset during the week that the team was being overly criticized, even from former Dolphin standout Bob Kuechenberg, and added that the club was being disrespected. Though, he did also say that NFL teams have to earn that respect on the field.

"We know how the media looks at us," Taylor said after the game. "I turned the radio on this week and heard the crap that everyone has said. We'll see if [the writers and broadcasters] have something to say [now]. Maybe they'll make some retractions. You know what I'm talking about. It just feels good to know we can do it and get it done.

"The guys believed all week," Taylor continued. "I think that all of the trash talk we heard from the media this week worked as a pretty serious motivator for us to come together and work towards a win."

Maybe the Miami talk radio shows can continue to bad-mouth the team. Keep your radio tuned, Jason.

BELL TOLLS FOR YEREMIAH

Yeremiah Bell replaced Travares Tillman in the starting lineup at strong safety, and his play was a contributing factor to Miami's defensive effort against the Bears.

Bell, in his first NFL start, was the fourth-leading tackler with five stops. He also had pair of passes defensed and forced a fumble.

The forced fumble came on the first play from scrimmage in the second half. Andre' Goodman scooped up the loose ball and raced 33 yards to the Chicago 12- yard line, setting up a Harrington touchdown pass to give the Dolphins a 21-10 cushion.

Saban was pleased with Bell's performance and the effort from the entire secondary.

"I was pleased with the way we played in the secondary," Saban said Monday. "I was pleased with the way the entire defense played, but the combination of the run support as well as the coverage as well as the pressure as well as the gap control up front and the aggressive attitude we had I think was the real key to the entire defense playing well."

O-LINE GETS IT DONE

The much-maligned offensive line had a stellar day against the Bears. Not only did the unit pave the way for Brown's career rushing day, but Harrington was not sacked. It was the second time in three games that Harrington was not dropped.

Since the Jets game on October 15, when L.J. Shelton moved from left tackle to the unfamiliar role of right guard and Damion McIntosh went back to his natural position at left tackle, things have begun to click.

"I think our offensive line has improved with this adjustment that we made," Saban said Monday.

"It says a lot, it speaks volumes of L.J. to make that move. He has played left tackle most of his career. It certainly wasn't anything that he was doing at left tackle, it was just what was best for us to try to get the five best guys to the five best positions. It was a little bit of a personal sacrifice on his part to go in there and play a new position and continue to improve and work and be a real pro at trying to do it the right way, and he has improved in that every week. Damion has always played left tackle. We tried him at guard to start with. He did as good a job as he could do, but this combination of guys seems to be working the best for us right now."

UP NEXT

After ending a four-game losing streak, now comes the prospect of winning two in a row.

The Dolphins just finished a stretch of playing four times on the road in five games. Now they'll play four of their next five at home. It starts with a visit from the Kansas City Chiefs.

Kansas City has won three in a row, scoring at least 30 points in each game, to vault into playoff contention at 5-3. And they've done it with backup quarterback Damon Huard, who played with Miami from 1997-2000 and started six games -- including five during the 1999 season in place of an injured Marino.

Huard is expected to start again this week as Trent Green continues to progress from a concussion he sustained in the opening week of the season. The winning streak has stirred a potential quarterback controversy, if and when Green is fully ready to play.

The Dolphins lead the all-time series, 13-12, which includes three Miami playoff victories, but the Chiefs have won the last two matchups. The teams last met on a Friday night in Miami last October 21 -- the game was moved up two days because of the impending arrival of Hurricane Wilma -- and the Chiefs notched a 30-20 victory.