Bears' offensive line better be up to the task

The Bears' offensive line may face its toughest pass-blocking test of the season Sunday against the Vikings.

Minnesota's defense leads the NFL in sack percentage and has a total of 30 sacks on the year, 10 more than the Bears.

Defensive end Everson Griffen leads the Vikings with 9 sacks, followed by tackle Tom Johnson with 5½ and rookie linebacker Anthony Barr with 4.

"They're very active, very explosive across the board," Bears coach Marc Trestman said. "They're hitting every quarterback, they're getting off blocks, they've got great leverage and they're playing good on the back end.

"Their back end is holding up (long) enough to where they can get to the quarterback, so it's a tremendous challenge for us throwing the football."

Offensively, the Bears are 19th in sacks allowed, having given up 24. Guard Matt Slauson is on injured reserve, and right tackle Jordan Mills and backup Eben Britton remained out of practice Thursday, but quarterback Jay Cutler, who has endured 23 of the sacks, said he's confident the line can protect him.

"You have to be," Cutler said. "To be able to play and do what we want to do in this offense, you have to trust the line. I've said it numerous times, we have seven, eight guys that can play a lot of different positions for us."

That doesn't mean Cutler will have all day to throw Sunday.

"You have to get rid of the ball," he said. "You can't sit back there and hitch a couple time and look guys off and switch sides of the field. You kind of have to pick a side and try to work that side and try to get rid of it because they're coming.

"They're bringing more than you can handle a lot of times, or they're bringing four to a side, which is hard to deal with. We've got to handle it. We're going to have to figure out ways to get rid of it pretty quickly."

Back to basics:

Running back Matt Forte is third in the NFL with 1,133 yards from scrimmage, although he's had 20 or more carries in a game just once this season, in Week 4 against the Packers, when he had a season-high 122 yards on 23 attempts.

Although coaches have talked about using Forte more, lopsided scores in the past two games have tabled that idea.

"As a running back, obviously you want to run the ball," Forte said. "It's frustrating sometimes when we get away from the run, but hopefully we get back to it."

Forte was asked his opinion on how the Bears got into their 3-6 situation.

"How did we get to this point?" he said. "I'm not even sure how to try to answer that question. I guess by losing six games."

Injury update: Tight end Martellus Bennett (ribs), wide receiver Brandon Marshall (ankle) and linebacker Darryl Sharpton (hamstring) were limited in Thursday's practice.

Cornerback Tim Jennings (knee) and defensive end Cornelius Washington were full participants, while guard-tackle Eben Britton (appendectomy), tackle Jordan Mills (ribs), cornerback Terrance Mitchell (illness), defensive end Trevor Scott (knee) and wide receiver Josh Morgan (shoulder) did not practice.