SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Wearing a loud blue sports coat and a smile, Brandon Marshall walked into the Levi's Stadium media room as Jay Cutler was talking, sauntered up to the podium and planted a kiss on Cutler's well-coiffured head.
Forty-some miles from Haight-Ashbury, the Chicago Bears showed everyone it still could be the Autumn of Love in Chicago.
One week after an inconceivable home loss to the Buffalo Bills, the Bears shocked the world with a wild 28-20 comeback win at the Santa Clara, er, San Francisco 49ers.
With the stars aligning against this team, and the offense sputtering, the two stars of the O acted like stars Sunday night, connecting for three touchdowns and maybe, just maybe, saved a Bears season from going off the rails after just two games.
Last week, every Chicago sportswriter picked the Bears to beat the Bills. This week, everyone picked the 49ers to beat the Bears.
Don't worry, we'll go back to being right all the time this week.
Of course, who would have picked the Bears in this game after last week? Add in that the Bears hadn't beaten the Niners on the road since 1985.
Maybe that's a harbinger. Anything else happen that season?
To be fair, things looked pretty dire early. The Bears' first possession went like this: special teams penalty, three plays for 1 yard and a blocked punt.
The Niners scored quick, Cutler couldn't connect with his receivers and the special teams were a mess. And while the defense was better than against Buffalo, it still looked vulnerable, especially when starters went down with injuries.
Chicago trailed 17-0 when, as Marshall likes to say, the Bears started speaking life into their season.
In the Bears' last possession of the first half, Cutler took a massive hit from Quinton Dial, a helmet right to his chest. He collected himself, and three plays later Marshall made a spectacular, one-handed scoring grab with 18 seconds left.
"It was a good catch," Cutler said with a grin, yes, a grin. "I think he made it harder than it had to be on purpose. "
Marc Trestman agreed.
"That was an exceptional catch," the Bears coach said.
Marshall had his own take: "I just threw my hand out there and it stuck," he said.
Good, exceptional, easy or hard, that catch made it 17-7. The whitewash was now a close game.
"We had to have it," Cutler said.
The Bears had 33 yards of offense before that drive. Cutler went into the half 10-for-20 for 64 yards, with 27 yards rushing.
He completed 13 of 14 passes for 112 yards in the second half.
For all the abuse Cutler takes, much of it self-inflicted, this was a signature game for him on a national level.
"I think Jay has had an excellent start to the season, minus one play," Trestman said of Cutler's interception to a Bills defensive tackle. "He led the way this whole week. He did it with his demeanor right after the game; he did it throughout the week in our building. The way he carried himself, the way he supported his teammates, the way he prepared for this game.
"We all looked to him this week to see how he'd handle the adversity of last week, and he stood tall through the week."
The defense held San Francisco to a field goal after a 14-play, 84-yard drive. And the Bears' first possession of the second half was another long 13-play, 80-yard drive -- thanks in part to two Niners penalties on third down that gave the Bears fresh sets of downs -- which ended with a 5-yard touchdown catch by Marshall.
When Cutler was asked about the offense's second-half success, he rightly pointed to the defense, which was vastly improved compared to last week and provided the Bears good field position. And he raved about Kyle Fuller.
With Charles Tillman out with a triceps injury (the injury that cost him almost half of last season) and defensive back Sherrick McManis hurt with a quad injury, Fuller, the Bears' first-round cornerback, introduced himself to the world.
He made the first of his two interceptions on the next play, giving the Bears the ball on the Niners' 3-yard line. Cutler found Martellus Bennett for an easy score. Easy because he shoved safety Eric Reid.
Fuller then picked off Colin Kaepernick again in the next drive, giving the Bears possession on the Niners' 42. Four plays later, Cutler found Marshall again for a 3-yard score to make it 28-20.
Cutler pumped his fist, and the Niners crowd felt it in their chests. The Bears stole a win here.
Marshall is a great talker, as evidenced by his Showtime gig and his ESPN 1000 show, but his best conversations happen with himself.
He was questionable coming into the game with an ankle injury. And while he said he was going to play on Tuesday's "Inside the NFL," Marshall admitted it came down to the wire Sunday.
"I just tried to stay positive and speak positive things into existence," he said. "I knew once I got to the game, if I could jog the adrenaline will kick in and I could run a little bit."
The power of positive thinking isn't just empty rhetoric to Marshall, who talks about a "brain fitness coach."
"I really believe it," he said. "I believe we can speak life and we speak death. All week I was speaking life and healing into my leg."
There will be injuries to deal with this week, as reality sets in, but the Bears are 1-1 and still alive.
It's a long season. And if the Bears do anything in the end, we'll come back to Sunday night in Santa Clara, where the Bears breathed life into a dead season.