Bears racked with injuries
It's not that the Bears have an inordinate amount of injuries for this time of the season, it's that they're all in the defensive secondary, mostly at cornerback.
The team's best corner, Charles Tillman, left the Falcons game Sunday with a shoulder injury and had his left arm in a sling when he left the locker room. The other starting corner, Nate Vasher, has missed the past two games with a wrist/thumb injury. Backup corner Trumaine McBride also suffered a shoulder injury against the Falcons and was unable to finish. Backup free safety Danieal Manning, who plays nickel corner in passing situations, left the Atlanta game with a hamstring injury and did not return.
"We're down in the secondary right now, so we need to get a few of the players back," coach Lovie Smith said. "Whenever you lose your No. 1 corner (Tillman), it's tough. Hopefully he'll be able to come back before long. Losing Trumaine McBride didn't help us any. Danieal does quite a bit, not just playing DB but also on the special teams. That hurt us (Sunday)."
Tillman appears doubtful for Sunday but hasn't been ruled out yet. Vasher practiced all last week and should be available, but he continues to hedge on his availability. The Bears appear to be counting more on Tillman.
"Charles Tillman's a tough guy," Smith said. "It'd be pretty hard to keep him out of games. If he misses a game, there's something definitely wrong there."
Matt Forte also injured his thumb Sunday and was wearing a splint Monday, but he is not expected to miss any games.
Doing without: Seven-year veteran guard Terrence Metcalf has been suspended by the league without pay for the next four weeks for violating the NFL policy on anabolic steroids and related substances.
Metcalf, a third-round pick in 2002, has started 25 games and played in 84, including all six this season in a reserve role. He went to training camp as the starting left guard but had arthroscopic knee surgery and lost the job to Josh Beekman.
The 6-foot-4, 310-pound Metcalf will be eligible to rejoin the Bears on Monday, Nov. 17, when coach Lovie Smith expects him to still be a member of the team.
"I don't see why he wouldn't be," Smith said. "I look at those things like I do injuries; we're not going to have a player for a certain amount of time. When you make a mistake like that, there are consequences that go with it."
With Metcalf unavailable, guard Tyler Reed was re-signed to the practice squad Monday after being waived a week earlier, and guard Dan Buenning could be active for the first time this season. Offensive tackle Chris Williams, the first-round draft pick, is getting closer to being able to contribute.
In it together: Center Olin Kreutz wasn't in the mood to gloat about the two-minute drill that produced a 77-yard TD drive and a short-lived lead near the end of Sunday's game.
"We don't take an offensive point of view," Kreutz said. "We take a Chicago Bear point of view. We take a team point of view, and we lost. Offensively, we didn't do enough to win the game. Defensively, we didn't do enough. Special teams, we didn't do enough. We all lost the game, and we move on."