Bears receive four Pro Bowl selections

Only eight teams in the NFL have a worse record than the Bears' 5-9, yet the Bears still managed to place four players in the Pro Bowl game.

Return specialist Devin Hester and coverage ace Brendon Ayanbadejo upheld the lofty reputation of Dave Toub's special teams by being honored for the second straight season.

Weak-side linebacker Lance Briggs and defensive tackle Tommie Harris both made it for the third straight season, even though the Bears' defense is 29th in total yards allowed out of 32 teams.

Middle linebacker Brian Urlacher, a Pro Bowl pick in six of his first seven NFL seasons, was not selected for the first time since 2004, when he missed seven games with injuries.

Urlacher leads the Bears with 138 tackles, 11 more than Briggs, and in interceptions with 3 and is tied for third with 5 sacks.

"We're 5-9, so you don't expect to get a lot of honors," coach Lovie Smith said. "So let's leave it at that."

Center Olin Kreutz's string of six straight Pro Bowl-paid trips back to his home state also was snapped.

Hester is second in the NFC with a 14.3-yard punt-return average, and he has an NFL-best 3 punt-return touchdowns and a league-best 5 combined kick-return touchdowns.

"What would a Pro Bowl team be without him on it?" Smith said. "He's had an outstanding season as have the rest of our players who were selected by their peers."

Ayanbadejo has a team-best 24 special-teams tackles and is on pace to match last year's total of 28. He also has forced 2 fumbles on special teams. Harris has 7 sacks but none in the past six games.

"Four players going to the Pro Bowl, that's a positive note on our football season," Smith said. "It's hard to really get fired up about awards like that when we're 5-9, but we have to congratulate those players for being selected."

Impressive newcomers: Rookie defensive tackle Matt Toeaina was signed a week before the Minnesota game but tackled Adrian Peterson for a loss twice after getting thrown into the mix with just a handful of practices.

Former first-rounder Jimmy Kennedy also saw immediate action inside and added a tackle in limited reps.

"Lovie said he was going to throw me into the fire upon me arriving here," said Toeaina, who was signed off the Cincinnati Bengals' practice squad. "Whenever he threw me in there I tried to make my reps count. I tried to do whatever I could to help the defense. My main priority was just to stop the run."

Toeaina, a sixth-round pick, hopes to stick around beyond this season, and he made a great first impression on Smith.

"Whenever you get 2 tackles for a loss as an inside player, that's good," Smith said. "I thought Jimmy Kennedy, too, both of those guys weren't here a week ago, but they came in and gave us some big plays."

Wounded knee: No update was given on the knee injury that knocked defensive end Mark Anderson out of Monday's game in the first quarter.

"He didn't finish the game, so that's about all we know right now," Lovie Smith said. "Hopefully he'll be able to go."