LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Adewale Ogunleye saw the loose ball and made up his mind.

Rather than run with it, he took the fall.

While the Chicago Bears keep seizing opportunities, their defensive end passed on one. It made sense, though.

“I didn’t want to make a mistake so I just jumped on it,” Ogunleye said.

It took a late fumble recovery by Ogunleye and a touchdown pass from Rex Grossman to Rashied Davis for the Bears to beat Minnesota 19-16 on Sunday.

But they are 3-0 for the first time since 1991, when they won their first four, even though their running game remains in neutral and Grossman had his worst game of the season.

The Bears have another opportunity to stamp themselves as championship contenders.

Defending NFC champion Seattle visits Soldier Field and the national TV cameras are coming, too.

After winning the first two games behind their defense, the Seahawks’ offense came to life in a 42-30 win over the New York Giants.

But they will be without league MVP Shaun Alexander, out with a broken foot.

“For us to take another step, we have to be able to beat the best,” Bears coach Lovie Smith said.

“It’s another chance for us to see exactly what we have in front of a national audience and in front of a home crowd. We wanted to be 3-0, in this position, against Seattle,” he added.

They got there by opening with a 26-0 win at Green Bay and dominating Detroit at home, 34-7, before pulling one out at Minnesota.

Down 16-12, Chicago’s Tommie Harris knocked the ball out of Chester Taylor’s hands as he took a handoff from Brad Johnson at the Minnesota 37 with about 3.5 minutes to go.

Ogunleye fell on the ball.

And Grossman threw the first fourth-quarter touchdown pass of his career, a 24-yarder to Davis.

“You know, any time we are in a close game the offense is going to come through for us,” linebacker Brian Urlacher said.

“So we made a big play on defense and they did come through. Just like they have all year long,” he added.

The running game remains stuck.

Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson were hurt during the preseason, and competition for the starting job never materialized.

Jones rushed for 54 yards against Minnesota, bringing his total to 181, while Benson stayed on the sideline after collecting 59 yards the first two weeks.

“We didn’t have a lot of running plays, No. 1,” Smith said when asked why Benson did not play.

“The running game never got going. We were never into the flow of the game,” he added.

Was he concerned about Benson’s blocking ability?

Smith was vague.

“We just wanted our best crew in there at the time,” he said.

“We didn’t play a lot of receivers, for the most part,” he added.

The Bears are averaging 2.7 yards per carry, down from 4.3 last year.

Opponents are daring them to throw the ball and are paying for it, with a healthy Grossman behind center.

“We’re just going on what they’re giving us and what we’re seeing,” Smith said.

The NFL’s top-rated passer through the first two weeks, Grossman was 23-of-41 for 278 yards, with a touchdown and two interceptions against the Vikings.

Antoine Winfield picked him off on the first play of the fourth quarter and ran it back 7 yards for a touchdown, but the quarterback delivered late in the game.

So did a defense that missed too many tackles.

Imperfections aside, the Bears did enough to win in a difficult environment.