There's no doubt Bears need to buck up for Briggs now

Sprinkling the infield with observations, opinions and suggestions:

• The Bears should re-sign weak-side linebacker Lance Briggs before he hits the free-agent market, even if they have to pay him more than six-time Pro Bowl middle linebacker Brian Urlacher.

In almost every game this season, Briggs has been the better player. Nothing against Urlacher. When he's healthy -- and I'm not sure that he is right now -- he's a difference-maker. But so is Briggs.

And Briggs is 2½ years younger than Urlacher, who will be 30 before the next season starts. Briggs won't be 27 until next month, still very much in his prime. And Briggs is even more durable than Urlacher, who's only missed seven games in eight years. The game Briggs missed with a hamstring injury in Week 4 this season was the first absence of his five-year NFL career.

The Bears told Briggs they'd use the franchise tag to retain his services if he turned down their $33 million offer prior to the 2006 season, and they did.

But general manager Jerry Angelo has said repeatedly that he wouldn't shut the door on keeping Briggs, although he doesn't seem thrilled about the idea. Angelo should be, though, because the Bears are a much better team with Briggs on the field.

Briggs' injury occurred during the Cowboys game, which was tied at 3-3 at halftime. Without Briggs on the field for the entire second half -- and without cornerback Nate Vasher for part of it -- the Cowboys scored 31 second-half points.

Even during Sunday's embarrassment against the Vikings, Briggs led the Bears with 10 tackles.

And forget about his driving mishap in August. Having "only" a couple traffic violations almost qualifies Briggs as a boy scout in today's NFL.

Bad judgment, yes. Bad person, no way, even if it practically takes an edict from Commissioner Goodell to get him to talk to the media.

• The Vikings did an excellent job of choosing a special player when they used the seventh overall pick in this year's draft to take running back Adrian Peterson. The Bears did an excellent job of choosing an ordinary player when they used the fourth overall pick in the 2005 draft to take running back Cedric Benson.

The difference between the two was clearly illustrated Sunday.

Peterson is almost as much of a threat as Devin Hester to score on every touch -- at least when he's running against the Bears' defense.

While Benson can pound the ball and move the chains, he doesn't seem to be any threat whatsoever to take it to the house. On 119 carries this season, his longest gain is 16 yards, and he averages 3.1 yards per carry, not quite half of Peterson's 6.3-yard average. On 157 carries last season, Benson's longest gain was 30 yards. Peterson had 3 touchdown runs longer than that -- on Sunday!

In fairness to Benson, the left side of the Vikings' offensive line -- center Matt Birk, guard Steve Hutchinson and tackle Bryant McKinnie -- is superior to the Bears' left side.

• Now that the Bears have figured out that rookie tight end Greg Olsen is a dangerous weapon in the passing game and that they should draw pass plays to Devin Hester on longer paper, hopefully they'll decide not to run Garrett Wolfe into the middle of the line, where he's in danger of being crushed, or run Cedric Benson on sweeps, where he lacks the speed to get to the corner.

Just for yuks, why not run the 220-pound guy up the middle and the 180-pound guy with 4.4 speed around the edge.