Leap forward for Giants, or just another false start?

The Giants have been here before. They took a charge from the pregame atmosphere, played a really good defensive game, had their offense find its footing in the second half and promised that everything was moving in the right direction.

It was just about a month ago, in fact, coming off the opening win against the Panthers.

Then came the Colts and the Titans and two humbling losses that showed little resemblance to the victory.

So here the Giants are again, basking in the glow of another win - only their fifth in the last 15 games - after a dominant 17-3 performance against the Bears Sunday night. They had 10 sacks, forced three turnovers and ran for 189 yards against a team that came in allowing almost a fifth of that in its first three games.

How do the Giants make sure the Texans and Lions, their next two opponents, don't turn into the Colts and Titans?

Focus, middle linebacker Jonathan Goff said.

"After a performance like that, the last thing you want to do is relax," he said. "You don't make the playoffs with one win or one great performance. You have to stay focused, you have to come out every week."

That's been the biggest issue for the Giants since their 5-0 start became a distant memory almost one full year ago. They have not won back-to-back games since victories over the Chiefs and Raiders last October, a 15-game span that is the longest they have gone without consecutive victories since coach Tom Coughlin arrived. And that's a tenure that included nine straight losses in 2004, Coughlin and Eli Manning's first season in New York.

Each of the five wins in the last 15 games has been met with the same optimism and enthusiasm, that this will be the one to turn things around. And then the next week, poof, the momentum is gone. So why should we believe that this one will be different?

"When you have success, you have confidence," Coughlin said. "We caution them to remember now that it's just getting started."

The Giants hope the Bears game is not another false start. There are signs that it wasn't. For one, the defense was able to not only clobber Jay Cutler and whoever else the Bears put behind center but do it without having to reach into a bag of tricks and blitzes. Eight of the nine sacks in the first half came on four-man rushes.

The Giants also were able to stop the run without piling defensive backs into the box. That allowed them to drop seven into coverage and disrupt the routes of the receivers.

"The D-line obviously had 10 sacks," Goff said. "What didn't get put down in the stats was how great of a job the DBs did rerouting the wide receivers . . . We're buying time for them to get to the quarterback at the same time they're getting after the quarterback, so he's got to get it out quicker."

Whether this was a breakout game for the defense or just another in a series of blips on the radar of potential won't be determined until next week at the earliest. Justin Tuck was asked how the defensive line can keep that kind of pressure on opposing quarterbacks in coming games.

"I don't know," Tuck said. "When we come in [tomorrow], I'm sure Perry will have something up his sleeve. But the biggest thing is making sure that we bring that energy to the football field that we did [Sunday] night."