CHICAGO – The defense played another strong game and a 6-5, 315-pound offensive tackle scored the Bears’ first touchdown of the season. But that’s not what had the crowd buzzing on a picture-perfect Sunday afternoon at Soldier Field.

Devin Hester repeatedly brought the fans to their feet with another spectacular performance, returning one punt 73 yards for a touchdown and another 31 yards to set up a field goal in a 20-10 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.

Devin Hester leaps over Dimitri Patterson en route to a 73-yard punt return TD in Sunday's 20-10 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.

“He’s unbelievable,” said quarterback Rex Grossman. “I don’t know how to describe it to someone that wasn’t there and didn’t see it. He cuts and moves at full speed. He just runs with so much confidence like he’s just playing tag out there and just messing with them.”

The Bears (1-1) took control of Sunday’s home opener by scoring the game’s first 17 points, including two touchdowns in a 1:08 span early in the second quarter.

Grossman tossed a 2-yard touchdown pass to reserve offensive tackle John St. Clair, and after the Chiefs (0-2) went three-and-out, Hester made it 14-0 while setting a Bears record in the process with the fourth punt return TD of his brief career.

St. Clair capped a methodical 15-play, 79-yard drive with the first TD of his NFL career. Grossman faked a handoff to Cedric Benson and hit the wide open eight-year veteran in the right flat. St. Clair, who lined up as an eligible receiver on the play, was mobbed by the entire Bears offensive line.

“That was a big play in the game,” Grossman said. “Obviously you don’t really look for him to go out on a route and they didn’t cover him, and we got an easy touchdown that way. I think he used to play tight end somewhere, so we knew he could do that.”

Hester then worked his magic. Hauling in a Dustin Colquitt punt at his own 27, the All-Pro return specialist juked to his right, bolted to his left, leaped over Dimitri Patterson at the Chicago 45 and dashed down the left sideline to the end zone.

“He has a chance to break it every time he touches the ball and that was definitely the case,” said coach Lovie Smith. “He gave us a lot of offense today.”

While the Bears set the tone with their long touchdown drive in the second quarter, the offense mustered just 87 total yards in the second half, tallying only Robbie Gould’s 38-yard field goal after Hester’s 31-yard punt return to the Kansas City 18.

“They did a good job of having the right defense called versus what we were doing and they got us a couple times,” Grossman said. “We have to put two halves together and we weren’t able to do that today. But we played well enough in the first half with this defense to win the game.”

After being held to 42 yards in a season-opening loss in San Diego, Benson rushed for 101 yards on 24 carries, the second 100-yard game of his career. He was consistent throughout the contest, rushing for 30 yards in the first quarter, 20 in the second, 24 in the third and 27 in the fourth.

The Bears offense committed three turnovers for the second straight game, giving the Chiefs the ball at the 50 following a Bernard Berrian fumble on Chicago’s second play from scrimmage and at the Chicago 45 and 25 after Grossman interceptions in the second half.

Defensive tackle Darwin Walker smothers Chiefs running back Larry Johnson in the Bears' 20-10 win.

Lance Briggs led the charge. The fifth-year pro registered a team-high 12 tackles, had one of the Bears’ four sacks, forced a first-quarter fumble the Chiefs recovered and pounced on a fumble caused by Charles Tillman at the Chicago 16 with 2:21 remaining in the game.

“Lance is a big-time player,” said defensive coordinator Bob Babich. “Big-time players show up in big games. We felt very comfortable that Lance would have a big game. We expect him to have a good game every week.”

One week after holding the Chargers’ LaDainian Tomlinson to 25 yards on 17 carries, the Bears limited Larry Johnson to only 55 yards on 16 attempts Sunday. Tomlinson and Johnson were the NFL’s top two rushers last season with 1,815 and 1,789 yards, respectively.

After the Bears defense forced its fourth straight three-and-out, Gould’s 47-yard field goal widened the margin to 17-0 with 2:25 left in the first half.

The Chiefs struck back quickly, marching 83 yards on four plays in just 1:08 capped by Damon Huard’s 16-yard TD pass to Dwayne Bowe, cutting the deficit to 17-7 with 1:17 left in the half.

It appeared that the pass was intended for tight end Tony Gonzalez. But Bowe snatched it out of the air in the right corner of the end zone after beating Nathan Vasher with a double move.

After Gould's field goal made it 20-7, Chiefs linebacker Napoleon Harris intercepted a screen pass that Grossman floated over the head of rookie running back Garrett Wolfe. The Bears’ second turnover set up Dave Rayner’s 45-yard field goal, drawing Kansas City to within 20-10 with 3:07 left in the third quarter.

Grossman was booed off the field when his pass across the middle intended for Rashied Davis was intercepted by linebacker Donnie Edwards, who returned it 18 yards to the Chicago 25.

But the Bears defense got the turnover back three plays later as Tillman batted a pass away from receiver Samie Parker in the right corner of the end zone to Danieal Manning, who returned the interception 33 yards to the Chicago 28.

"When we got the lead, it was kind of on our defense," Smith said. "We like to be in that situation where our defense has to win the game for us. We weren't able to get a lot of takeaways early, but at the end you got a chance to see what takeaways can do for you."