New Orleans' defense held Chicago to 246 yards of offense and only 60 on the ground -- 42 of which came on one run by Matt Forte on the Bears' first-quarter touchdown drive. Saints coach Sean Payton said taking away the run allowed the Saints to keep pressure on Cutler.
"Once a team becomes one-dimensional ... it's challenging in our league," he said. "When that little bit of threat of the run is removed, especially in an environment like this, that ends up being a recipe for a lot of hits."
Brees' bomb to Henderson was the big play of the first half. Chicago had opened the scoring with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Cutler to Dane Sanzenbacher and the Saints had cut the lead to 7-3 with the first of three field goals by John Kasay, a 31-yarder at the end of the first quarter.
But with the Bears in a Cover 2 on third-and-12, Henderson got behind the secondary down the middle of the field to haul in Brees' pass in stride, slip a tackle and race to the end zone.
"I think Sean did a good job of calling that play at the right time, with that defense," Henderson said of Payton. "And we took advantage of it."
Kasay, who moved past Jason Elam into sixth place on the NFL's all-time field goals list with 438, was good from 29 and 53 yards and Chicago's Robbie Gould hit a 42-yarder on the final play of the first half, as New Orleans led 16-10 at halftime.
Gould added a 38-yard field goal early in the third quarter before the Saints' defense turned the tables, as Turk McBride stripped Cutler and Jonathan Vilma recovered at the Chicago 29. Five plays later, Brees found Meachem in the end zone for the 4-yard score and a 23-13 lead.
"It was, I'd say, the big turning point in the game," Brees said of McBride's strip, "because it was in the second half and that's when we wanted to establish ourselves and pull away."
Brees then found tight end Jimmy Graham with completions of 13, 15 and 7 yards and Mark Ingram ran for gains of 12 and 8 before Sproles took a short pass and sprinted up the right sideline from 12 yards out to make it 30-13 with 12:05 to play.
The defense took over from there, as five of the Saints' six sacks came in the fourth quarter, including two each by Junior Gallette and Roman Harper.
Henderson finished with three catches for 103 yards and the score. Ingram led the Saints on the ground with 51 yards on 14 carries.
Cutler was 19-of-45 for 244 yards and one touchdown for the Bears, who lost tackle Gabe Carimi and receiver Earl Bennett to injuries in the first half.
Forte was Chicago's only consistent weapon, running for 49 yards on 10 carries and catching 10 passes for 117 yards as Cutler repeatedly checked down under pressure.
"It was a long day out there," Cutler said. "I had to throw a lot of balls away before I wanted to. The Saints were the better team today."
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