Hester will pay tribute to Taylor
Devin Hester said he plans to fly to South Florida after Sunday's game against the New York Giants to attend the Monday funeral of Sean Taylor, his teammate for one year at Miami.
Hester was a freshman during Taylor's last season with the Hurricanes. The former Redskins safety, who was fatally shot Monday, made an immediate impact on Hester.
"It was the first game of the season in the Orange Bowl, and it was my first opportunity to get my hands on the ball," Hester said. "First play of the game, he was my lead blocker on a kickoff return. All he said was, 'Devin, just follow me, I got you.' Sure enough, the first play of the game I ran the opening kickoff back (97 yards for a touchdown) just following him."
Hester wasn't prepared to discuss Taylor's death Wednesday, the day after it happened.
"This is the first time something like this has happened (to me)," said Hester, who mentioned the possibility of dedicating his performance against the Redskins next week to Taylor.
"I'm just hoping I'll be able to go out there with a clear head and play my game. I don't know what I'm going to do, but it's going to be something special."
Measuring stick: Giants defensive ends Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora have combined for 18 sacks, but Bears defensive end Alex Brown doesn't give the New Yorkers the edge in Sunday's game.
"I'm going to start by saying that I respect them so much because I believe they are very, very good," Brown said. "But I think we're better. But we have to go out and show it, and Sunday's a good time to prove that.
"I don't want to get them riled up, but I believe our offensive line will hold their own, and hopefully we can get after their quarterback a little bit."
Left end Adewale Ogunleye leads the Bears with 9 sacks, and he had 10 in 2005 and 15 in '03. Mark Anderson has 4½ sacks after getting 12 last season as a rookie.
Brown has 1½ sacks and had a career-best 7 last season. Two of the best games of his career have been vs. the Giants. He had 4 sacks against them in 2004 and 2 last year.
No change: Despite rumors of shifting the Bears-Redskins game next Thursday night to a later date to accommodate the Redskins' attendance at Sean Taylor's funeral Monday, the Bears had received no notification of that possibility as of late Thursday.
"I have heard no discussion of the moving of Thursday's game," said NFL senior vice-president of public relations Greg Aiello on Thursday afternoon.
Injury update: Offensive tackle Fred Miller (ankle) was the only player who didn't practice Thursday, although linebacker Lance Briggs (hamstring), defensive tackle Tommie Harris (knee), return specialist Devin Hester (foot) and cornerback Nate Vasher (groin) were limited.
Go figure: The Bears have recovered 12 opponents fumbles, 1 each by 12 different players: linebackers Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs and Hunter Hillenmeyer, safeties Adam Archuleta, Brandon McGowan and Mike Brown, defensive linemen Adewale Ogunleye, Alex Brown and Israel Idonije, cornerbacks Ricky Manning Jr. and Trumaine McBride, and punter Brad Maynard.