Q and A: Charles Tillman on family, movies, Lovie Smith

• Bears cornerback leads the NFL this season with 8 forced fumbles.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Charles Tillman forced his eighth fumble in last Sunday's loss to the Seattle Seahawks, putting him two ahead of the Denver Broncos' Elvis Dumervill and Von Miller and the Carolina Panthers' Charles Johnson for tops in the NFL this season.

It would seem there must be a way to perfecting such a skill as knocking the ball loose, but Tillman maintains it's mostly instinct and not something he works on.

"I mean, I box in the offseason. That might have something to do with it," the Chicago Bears' cornerback said after a recent practice. "I couldn't tell you, man. I just have fun. That's my whole goal when I'm out there. I try to have fun. We get paid lots of money to play a kids' game. I'm blessed, I' m lucky that I'm 31 and still able to do something I love."

Tillman loves the feeling of the ball coming loose out of a ball carrier's hands "because you know you just helped your offense get in a situation to score some points."

The banged-up Bears will need more help like that on Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings because they'll be without linebacker Brian Urlacher (hamstring), cornerback Tim Jennings (shoulder) and wide receiver Earl Bennett (concussion). Urlacher is expected to miss a few more games.

Tillman, a candidate for defensive player of the year, will be a big key to how well the 8-4 Bears finish. They're behind the Green Bay Packers in the NFC North because of tiebreakers but will face those Packers in eight days at Soldier Field.

All of these things are important to Tillman, but not as much as they used to be. This year, he's learned life lessons after he was criticized by many for saying he'd miss the game against the Houston Texans if his wife went into labor. Tillman also found plenty of support on that issue, even from people he's never met.

Tillman talked about the "random" baby gifts that arrived at his house, the Bears' defense now versus years past, his love of movies and learning to understand coach Lovie Smith's Texas accent in this installment of the USA TODAY Sports NFL Q&A:

How does 31 feel?

I feel great. Just like I felt at 21.

Smarter? Wiser?

Definitely a lot smarter and wiser. That's life. As you get older, you become wiser and smarter. You're able to figure out the game a little bit better. I understand the game better. One of my goals coming into the game was to each year learn something new.

What have you learned this year?

The routes and offenses. Recognizing formations, knowing how they're trying to attack you.

Okay, now the non-football lesson you've learned.

Parenting. Just trying to be a better dad. I have four kids now, so what can I do to be a better dad? The things my parents taught me and some of the things they didn't, I want that for my kids.

You were trying to be a better dad by saying you'd miss a game for the birth of your baby and you caught a lot of hell for that though.

Yeah, but you can't make everybody happy. I won't apologize for my beliefs and my views on what I stated earlier about being there for the birth of my child. If I had to do it all over again, I'd do it the same way.

First of all, how's your daughter doing?

She's good. She's healthy. She's keeping everybody up at night. She's doing her job, as she's supposed to. (His first three kids) slept like babies all through the night. She's on that every two, three hour waking up schedule. But we have a lot of help with the family.

So back to the controversy. What'd you wind up hearing about that?

I don't necessarily know names but my agent called me and told me a story about, 'Such and such a person supports you,' or 'This person is an idiot because he said you're dumb for not going to the game. But forget him; it's about family. What if something were to go wrong? You'd never forgive yourself.' There were different reporters, writers and bloggers who said the same thing. But at the end of the day, it's about family, not football.

How about your family? What'd they say?

They didn't say anything. We didn't really talk about it. Well, my wife and I had one conversation about it, once. She just thought it was dumb that it got so much attention. We felt like our baby was more famous than our entire family put together. That was kind of what we talked about: 'This kid is more famous than we know.' We started to get presents at the house.

Random presents from random people?

Yeah, we got a couple of random presents. It was a little scary to know people could find our address like that.

Did you send back any thank yous?

Nah, you can't. Just on the field: 'Thank you fans.' Thank them with a win or a forced fumble.

Lovie Smith was talking about you as not being a traditional cover cornerback and that you provide so much more. Do you see yourself that way?

Yeah. I feel like in our scheme, to be a corner, you have to tackle, you have to play man, you have to cover tight ends, you have to be in the goal-line personnel, you have to play nickel, you have to go inside. So yeah, I think in this defense they require you as a player to be all around the field.

What does it do for the defense as far as you being able to provide multiple dimensions?

Well, it gives you the ability to put your playmakers on the field. Guys aren't limited to this particular package or that package. We have a lot of playmakers on this defense, so we can put multiple playmakers on the field and just let guys blossom and use guys to make plays.

Is this the most flexibility this defense has had since you've been here?

Yeah, I think so.

Because there's been a lot of talk about you guys being just a 'Tampa-2' defense, but the tape shows more than that.

Traditionally, we are (Tampa-2), but there have been games where we played nothing but man. It's fun. If that's what we have to do to secure the win, I'm all about it.

You're a huge movie guy. What's the best one you've seen this year?

"Flight" was good. I enjoyed that, with Denzel. I just liked his transformation of being a drug addict, alcoholism, the demons he had to fight with, losing his family. He hit rock bottom, didn't have anything, lost everything and just tries working his way back up to reclaim it. I've never seen him in a role like that. When you look at actors, you like to see them transform themselves to something completely off the radar, something they'd never do.

A little more vulnerable than you're used to seeing him?

Yes! Definitely. I'm gonna go see "Lincoln" tonight. I hear that's a great movie.

Favorite movie of all time?

I like the "Star Wars" trilogies. "Shawshank Redemption" is a great movie. "The Green Mile" is a great movie. "The Patriot" is a great movie. "Cinderella Man," great movie.

You're not into the classics?

No, my grandfather is a huge Humphrey Bogart fan, though. He loves him. My classics are like "Which Way is Up?" with Richard Pryor. "Uptown Saturday Night" with Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier. "Let's Do it Again." Those are my classics.

Lovie Smith. Go.

Best coach ever. He's a great guy. His character comes out in us as players. We take his lead. He's consistent. He's consistently consistent with his walk, his face, the way he coaches, the way he treats you like men. And I respect that. You have a lot of guys coming from other teams who say, 'Chicago is different. It wasn't like that in San Diego or Green Bay' or whatever team a guy will come from. 'Everyone's cool, the mood, the tempo, coaches aren't uptight. They talk to you, there's no screaming and yelling.' I think a lot of that is from Coach Smith.

Favorite Lovie moment?

I'd say the first time I heard him say 'Tuesday,' because he's from Big Sandy, Texas, so he says 'Toosh-day.' He says 'cuff-you' instead of 'curfew.' Certain words he'll use, those are the moments because you'll look at somebody and say, 'Did he just say cuff-you instead of curfew?' Being here nine years, I've come to learn that's the way he says certain words.