by By Bob LeGere rlegere@dailyherald.com , Chicago Daily Herald

No. 1 is they play four more November games after starting the month off with a win over the Browns. They?re at home against the Cardinals, then at the 49ers, home vs. the Eagles, and at the Vikings.

No. 1A is that coach Lovie Smith says November is important.

"There is a part of the year where you get yourself in position (September and October)," Smith said. "You can?t be out of it. By the time you get to November, that?s what a team is.

"Early on, you?re working through different things. We feel good about getting that first win in November, and this is a key month for us."

Smith made that point to his team the night before the Browns game.

"Lovie pointed out that you don?t make or break your season in September and October," linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer said.

"It?s November and December where you really figure out what you?re made of. We?re 1-0 in November, and hopefully that?s a sign of things to come."

In the two years the Bears have made the playoffs under Smith, they?re a combined 13-4 in November and December. In the three non-playoff years, they?re a combined 12-13.

Even more special: As bad as the 1-6 Browns are offensively and defensively, they are one of the NFL?s better special-teams units, but the Bears clearly were better in that phase, too, on Sunday.

Cleveland?s Joshua Cribbs entered the game as the NFL leader with a punt-return average of 16.4 yards, but he did not have a single yard against the Bears . Despite a 12-yard shank, Brad Maynard placed 3 of his 5 punts out of bounds, had another downed at the one-yard line and forced Cribbs to fair catch another. Three of Maynard?s punts were downed inside the Browns? 20-yard line.

Cribbs, who was among the league leaders with a 28.9-yard kickoff-return average, averaged just 22.8 yards against the Bears on 6 tries, with a long of only 25.

"I thought our coverage units on the special teams did a great job of holding down a great player throughout the day," coach Lovie Smith said.

"We wanted to slow him down a little bit, but never thought we would be able to shut him out like that. It starts with the kicks, and the coverage units (take it) from there."

No big deal: The linebacker flip-flop that had Hunter Hillenmeyer moving to the middle from the strong side and Nick Roach switching from strong to middle seemed to work fine against the Browns.

Roach had 8 tackles and forced 2 fumbles. Hillenmeyer had 4 tackles and the only quarterback hit, but he downplayed the switch.

"I don?t want to make too much of that at all," he said. "We were both still on the field. It seemed like Nick had a great game. The coaches? idea is to keep the players out there that they think can help them win, and Nick is definitely one of those guys. Obviously we had Cleveland on the run on that side of the ball, so good things happened."

The Bears allowed a season-low 191 total yards and forced a season-high 5 turnovers.

In the genes: Assistant defensive backs coach Gill Byrd?s son Jairus is a rookie safety with the Buffalo Bills, and he leads the NFL with 7 interceptions, including 2 in each of the last three games.

"Seven!" the coach said on his way out of the locker room Sunday evening. "That?s unbelievable."

Gill Byrd was a two-time Pro Bowl player who had an 11-year career with the Chargers and led all NFL cornerbacks in interceptions for three straight seasons (1989-91).

He is the Chargers? all-time leading interceptor with 42, but the most he ever had in a season was 7, although he did it three times.

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