The Chicago Bears faced a lot of questions after an 0-2 start to the season, earning a challenge from head coach Ben Johnson. They answered some of them Sunday afternoon at Soldier Field.

The Bears put together their best performance of the season in a 31-14 win over the Dallas Cowboys, their first of the season. Quarterback Caleb Williams took a major step that Bears fans had been waiting for under Johnson. Meanwhile, the defense made important stops in a game that was expected to be an offensive shootout.

Here are the five big takeaways from the first win of the year.

Defense lives up to the moment

The Bears defense had to do some soul searching after a blowout loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 2. With injuries to three of its starters, it didn’t look like things would get much better Sunday against the Cowboys and quarterback Dak Prescott.

Instead, Chicago’s defense came up with four turnovers and more stops to limit the damage Sunday.

The Cowboys struggled to move the ball after they tied the game 14-14 with 7:57 left in the second quarter. The Bears defense forced a three-and-out on its next possession and then intercepted Prescott three times in the second half to put the game away. Linebacker Tremaine Edmunds came up with two of those interceptions, a career-high, while safety Kevin Byard added another in the fourth quarter.

Safety Jaquan Brisker told reporters after the game that the defense held a player-only meeting Wednesday to talk about what they needed to do. It ended with a performance that Bears players expect to be the standard.

“I think the entire defense was out there, flying around playing with physicality,” Byard said. “I think it’s gonna be a good tape to watch, to say this is who we need to be every single week.”

Making a statement early

The Bears turned an early turnover into points Sunday to grab momentum early.

Dallas seemed like it was on track to put up points on its opening drive in the first quarter when Cowboys running back Javonte Williams picked up a couple nice gains on his first two rushes. But Bears cornerback Tyrique Stvevenson made an impressive play on that second drive when he ripped the ball from Williams’ arms and took possession of it while still in-bounds.

Caleb Williams and the offense built off that moment on their following drive. The Bears went 71 yards on five plays and scored when Williams found Rome Odunze wide open for a 35-yard touchdown pass with 10:35 left in the first quarter.

Stevenson had his best game of the season when the team needed him with the absences of starting cornerbacks Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon. He finished the game with two key passes defended and three tackles.

“I think he had a great game,” Brisker said. “You can tell he was locked in. Starting off Monday, he responded well, you could tell he was in the building very early, things like that, early catching balls and things like that. He did his thing.”

Getting the rookies involved

Many Bears fans wondered why Johnson didn’t use his top rookies during the first two games of the season. He made sure to get them more involved Sunday.

First-round pick tight end Colston Loveland received the first target of the game when Williams missed him with a high pass. Williams made up for it later on the next drive and found Loveland for a 31-yard pass that moved the ball down the field on a scoring drive. Loveland left the game in the second quarter with a hip injury.

Second-round pick wide receiver Luther Burden III was involved on the play of the game when he caught a 65-yard touchdown pass on a flea-flicker. Burden finished the game with 101 receiving yards on three targets to go along with one carry for 7 yards.

Seventh-round pick running back Kyle Monangai rushed for 16 yards on six carries.

“There’s a lot of open stuff,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “They did a good job of scheming that and [Williams] did a good job of getting the ball to the guys when it was open.”

Running it out

The Bears used a long drive in the third quarter to not only get their running game going but essentially seal up Sunday’s win.

Chicago started its first drive of the third quarter with 10:03 left in the third quarter when Ben Johnson saw an opportunity to milk the clock. He called 11 straight run plays and moved the ball 76 yards down the field. Williams, Swift, Burden, Monangai and wide receiver DJ Moore all ran designed runs during those 11 straight runs.

The drive ultimately ended when Williams found wide receiver Moore in the back of the end zone for a touchdown facing fourth-and-4. It took 9:54 off the clock and kept the Cowboys’ offense off the field for almost the entire third quarter.

“I think that’s an identity builder,” Kmet said. “I think people always want to talk about like identity, what’s the identity? Well, you want your identity for any team to be physical and to be able to run the ball at will. I thought we did that at that drive. We were a little slow in the first half. Maybe we didn’t need the run game as much, but when we needed it, it came through and that’s really good to see.”

Creating some pressure

A major concern for the defense this season has been the lack of a pass rush. The Bears started to see one in the second half.

They finally created some pass rush in the second half when Prescott and the Cowboys were forced to throw more given their 31-14 deficit. Defensive end Dominique Robinson broke through for the Bears’ first sack of the game in the third quarter before Montez Sweat earned his first sack of the season in the fourth quarter.

Chicago finished with seven quarterback hits Sunday, Sweat leading the way with two. Defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo, Robinson, defensive tackles Gervon Dexter, Grady Jarrett and Chris Williams each added one.

“[Defensive coordinator Denis Allen] did a good job calling, putting guys in position to make plays,” Edmunds said. “When we were in those positions, guys made plays. The d-line showed up a lot, our secondary showed up a lot. Across the board, guys were doing their jobs.”