TOO HOT
Six pack of sacks for leader of `D’
Seemingly everywhere, Brian Urlacher posted a team-high eight solo tackles and added to his league-best sacks total for linebackers with his fifth and sixth. That’s two short of Urlacher’s career high with 11 games to play. The sacks cost Minnesota 23 yards. “I don’t care about my own statistics,” Urlacher said. “Statistics will be there no matter what. Critics will be there no matter what I do, and that’s fine with me. What is important is that we played well and got the win. That’s all that matters.” Urlacher also defended wideout Travis Taylor closely on a fourth- quarter pass that Taylor tipped and safety Chris Harris intercepted. “Brian is Brian,” coach Lovie Smith said. “He had a big game.”
TOO COLD
Yards and yards to go for No. 4 pick
These kinds of games couldn’t be what Cedric Benson, the No. 4 overall pick, envisioned when the Bears drafted him. Not only did Thomas Jones show his mettle by playing on a sprained right knee that was supposed to sideline him for three to four weeks, Benson received only three carries and managed just 2 yards for a meager 0.7-yard average. “We’ll continue to play Cedric Benson and Adrian Peterson and have a role for both of them,” Smith said. But fourth overall picks aren’t supposed to be mentioned in the same sentence as sixth-round picks. But such is Benson’s reality these days. The first-round pick has rushed for just 67 yards on 27 carries this season. He continues to accept his limited role professionally.
JUST RIGHT
Gaining momentum since Cincinnati
Rookie quarterback Kyle Orton’s numbers won’t dazzle anybody. He finished 16-for-25 for 117 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception. But Orton continues to put his five-interception debacle against Cincinnati in the past with solid game management. Even his interception came with the Bears leading 21-3 in the fourth quarter and on a deep ball to Muhsin Muhammad where taking a chance served almost as a punt. “I thought Kyle managed the game well,” Smith said. Both of Orton’s touchdown passes were to tight end Desmond Clark, pushing Orton’s season total to four and giving him his first two-touchdown-pass game. “Every game I feel more and more comfortable,” Orton said. “I feel like I’m making progress each game, and I just have to keep working to get better.”
