CHICAGO – It was more than just the kicks, of course.

“The whole operation has to be smooth,” Brad Daluiso said.

The whole operation was lousy.

Rarely can a team rise above blowing not one or two but three field goal attempts, especially in a close game, on the road. The Giants did just that yesterday, beating the Bears despite a truly woeful kicking performance, or shall we say kicking operation performance.

It these mishaps are not cleaned up, the Giants will lose a game because of a special-teams unit that takes one step up and two steps back.

“Special teams,” Tiki Barber said, “were horrendous.”

In the second quarter, a drive stalled and Daluiso lined up for a routine 34-yard field goal, which he hit wide left. It was only the fifth miss inside 40 yards (he was 40 of 44) in Daluiso’s 10-year career. Daluiso, coming off reconstructive surgery on his left (non kicking) knee, blamed a late spot of the ball by the official for messing up his timing.

“The first one, that’s the one I’m most frustrated about because he didn’t put the ball down until there were 10 seconds left on the game clock,” Daluiso said. “We definitely had problems on the last two.”

Later in the quarter, Daluiso missed a 41-yarder, but it wasn’t his fault, as holder Brad Maynard handled a low snap from Jason Whittle, never got full control of the ball and never lifted it high enough for Daluiso, which ruined the timing of the kick as Daluiso knocked the ball into a pile of players at the line.

“The second one was never there,” Daluiso said.

“The snap was a little low, I tried to trap it, I just never really got control of it,” added Maynard.

Strike three came with 1:08 remaining and the Giants looking to build a commanding 10-point lead. But from 31 yards away, Daluiso never had a chance as safety Mike Brown stormed in from the right side and swatted it away.