Bears' Peppers gets Urlacher's vote for defensive player of year

Since he entered the league in 2002, Bears defensive end Julius Peppers has 8 interceptions. No other lineman has more than former-Bear and current-Saint Alex Brown's 5.

That's an example of the myriad talents Peppers brings to the table.

“He's unbelievable,” middle linebacker Brian Urlacher said. “In my mind, he's defensive player of the year. There's no one player in the NFL who affects the game on defense more than he does.

“Look at what he does, the schemes people have to do for him. He pretty much eliminates one side of the field. You have to double-team him. If you don't double him, it's a sack, or you throw the ball quick.”

Peppers is tied with Israel Idonije for the team lead with 8 sacks, but he also has 20 quarterback pressures, as many as the next three teammates combined. He leads the Bears' linemen with 48 tackles and is third on the team with 7 pass breakups.

“It makes our job easy (in pass protection),” Urlacher said. “And then in the running game, he's always in the backfield. He plays the run phenomenal. He's helped our whole defense. I don't know what else to say. He's been everything we thought he would be and more, and he practices every single day. He practices hard; he plays hard. I've got a lot of respect for the guy. He does a great job for us.”

Priorities in order:

Brian Urlacher was the leading vote-getter at linebacker in fan balloting for the Pro Bowl at NFL.com. The selfless Urlacher didn't have much of a comment.

“It's great to win games,” he said. “That's really important to me.”

The fan vote represents one-third of the decision-making process, with players' votes and coaches ballots each counting one-third.

Julius Peppers was the leading vote-getter at defensive end, and Devin Hester was No. 1 among return specialists.

Whacked-out priorities:

Vikings cornerback Antoine Winfield was fined $7,500 by the NFL for the hit on quarterback Jay Cutler that resulted in a three-stitch cut on his chin.

Cutler did not miss a snap after the play, in which the 5-foot-9 Winfield appeared to attempt to pull back before the top of his helmet made contact with the 6-foot-3 Cutler. Winfield was fined $10,000 in the same game for the height of his socks.

taying put:

The Bears and Olivet Nazarene University have signed a two-year agreement to hold Bears training camp in Bourbonnais, through 2012. The Bears also have an option to conduct camp at ONU in 2013.

The ONU campus, approximately 60 miles south of Chicago, has enabled tens of thousands of Bears fans to enjoy training-camp practices for the past nine years.

Injury update:

Wide receiver Earl Bennett (ankle) did not participate in Thursday's indoor practice at the Walter Payton Center.

Linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa (knee) was limited, but linebacker Lance Briggs (shoulder), cornerbacks Charles Tillman (knee), Corey Graham (calf) and Zack Bowman (foot) and safeties Craig Steltz (ankle) and Major Wright (ankle) were all full participants.