Dvoracek's season ends early - again

Nose tackle Dusty Dvoracek will miss the remainder of the season after rupturing his right biceps on the second play of Sunday night's game, meaning rookie Marcus Harrison and seldom-used veteran Anthony Adams will be asked to fill the void.

Both players stepped up Sunday night, as Harrison was third on the team with 7 tackles, and Adams added 6 plus a tackle for loss.

"Our expectations are for them to move right into that role," coach Lovie Smith said. "Both of those guys have played and played well for us. It's unfortunate what happened to Dusty."

Despite frequent double-teams, Dvoracek is seventh on the team and first among the linemen with 40 tackles, and he's tied for third on the team with 6 tackles for loss. Dvoracek started all 11 games this season after missing his entire rookie season in 2006 with a foot injury and suffering a season-ending torn ACL in his knee in the first game last season.

"That's very hard for a guy like Dusty to go out like that," Smith said. "No one works harder than him. He's a tough guy. It's just unfortunate; (you) don't know the reason why. As you look at how he injured his arm, (it was) just a typical play that he's made plenty of times."

Adams started eight games last season, but he's been the odd man out most of this season, suiting up for just five of the first 12 games.

Not getting it done: Pro Bowl center Olin Kreutz gave credit to the Vikings' defensive line for stopping the Bears four times from the one-yard line Sunday night, but he didn't absolve the offensive line of blame.

"Obviously they did a great job," Kreutz said. "They're a difficult defensive line to move the ball on. You have three Pro Bowlers (Kevin Williams, Pat Williams and Jared Allen) out of four guys, but we still have to punch it in at that point. We could've done better, and I know I could have blocked better on those four plays to help us get in the end zone."

By the numbers: After coaches reviewed film of Sunday night's game, linebacker Lance Briggs was credited with his season-best 16 tackles, just 1 short of Mike Browns' team high this season. Briggs had 7 solo tackles and 9 assists.

Briggs now holds a 107-101 lead for the season over safety Kevin Payne, who had 6 tackles in addition to his team-best fourth interception. Cornerback Corey Graham had 13 tackles in Minnesota, including a team-best 12 solos.