If Nathan Vasher played his final game as a Bear on Sunday at Ford Field, he went out a starter, something he didn’t do often the last three seasons.
It was just the 11th start for Vasher since he received a five-year, $28 million contract extension after the team’s Super Bowl appearance. The Bears turned to the former Pro Bowl performer to fill in for Charles Tillman, who was placed on injured reserve. Vasher made a nice open-field tackle of Calvin Johnson on an end around but looked rusty overall.
Vasher is due to make $2.95 million next season, and has a $50,000 workout bonus, numbers that which probably won’t compute for the Bears.
“The offseason will be interesting. We will see. Everything will work out the way it’s supposed to,” Vasher said. “I’m not concerned with anything I can’t control right now.”
Injuries, including a torn groin muscle in 2007, were out of Vasher’s control.
“I come out and play when they ask me to, sit when they ask me to, and I haven’t been a distraction to anybody,” he said. “(General manager) Jerry Angelo and (coach) Lovie (Smith) always talk about loyalty, and I feel like that is the only thing I have been, 100 percent loyal to the Chicago Bears.”
“Definitely, I can still be a starter in this league. We’ll worry about anything else when it happens. I am definitely excited about the future.”
Cutlerized: Jay Cutler finished with 3,666 passing yards, second in franchise history, and the four touchdown passes gave him 27, one more than the league-high number of interceptions he threw.
For the first time the Bears had four players catch 50 or more passes with Greg Olsen having 60, Devin Hester 57, Matt Forte 57 and Earl Bennett 54. Johnny Knox (45) might have made it had an ankle injury not forced him out.
In the last four games, Devin Aromashodu had 22 receptions for 282 yards and four TDs. Projected over a full season, that would be 88 receptions for 1,128 yards and 16 scores.
Hometown hit: Tim Shaw, raised in nearby Livonia, Mich., was unofficially credited with eight tackles on special teams (five solos, three assists) to go with a forced fumble and recovery of Derrick Williams’ kickoff return in the fourth quarter. It’s the most special teams tackles in a game in six seasons under Dave Toub and gives Shaw 30 for the season.
“It was sick,” Toub said. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
Extra points: Linebacker Nick Roach left the game with a back injury. … Zack Bowman finished with six interceptions, the most for a Bear since Vasher’s eight in 2005. … Alex Brown had a sack to give him six. He has had at least six in five of the last six years.
