Hester, Knox leave with injuries

The wide receivers took a beating in Sunday's victory.

While rookie Johnny Knox's lower-leg injury did not appear serious as he spoke to reporters after the game, Devin Hester's shoulder injury appeared more serious. Hester left Soldier Field wearing a neck brace.

"Hopefully they'll be OK," offensive coordinator Ron Turner said. "We were thin today. We were down to two (Rashied Davis and Earl Bennett). I think they're going to be fine, it sounds like."

Backup running back Adrian Peterson also suffered a knee injury.

Hester was hurt early in the second quarter when he was hammered by Lions cornerback Williams James and safety Louis Delmas after a 2-yard reception, his only catch of the day.

He did not return, and neither did Knox, who was hurt in the third quarter, or Peterson, who was hurt on the opening kickoff.

After Hester's injury, Davis caught 2 passes for 16 yards, his first receptions of the season.

On a roll: Adewale Ogunleye leads the Bears with 4½ sacks and is on pace to surpass his personal best sack season of 15 in 2003, when he was with the Miami Dolphins.

The nine-year veteran credits new defensive line coach/assistant head coach Rod Marinelli with his early success.

"My career has been up and down, up and down," said Ogunleye, who had just 5 sacks last year. "I think I finally got a guy (Marinelli) who's helped me forget about each play.

"Even after the sacks, I don't think about it. I go and try to get another one or just try to play for the now. I credit Coach Marinelli. He's helping the whole defensive line."

Marinelli was fired as the Lions' head coach after going 0-16 last season, but he never made this week personal.

"He didn't say one word about Detroit the whole week," Ogunleye said. "But we knew going in this was a game we had to get: 1, because of our division; and 2, because of him.

"The way he puts his heart and soul into coaching us, I'm glad we came out with our highest sack total (5) in this game."

The Bears already have 14 sacks after getting 28 all of last season.

Just chatting: Jay Cutler was sacked once by safety Louis Delmas, a rookie from Western Michigan, and hit a few more times. Each time, words were exchanged.

Cutler was asked if the two were old friends.

"I'm going to call him after the game," Cutler said with a laugh.

"What are you go call him?" Cutler was asked.

"Nah, I don't know," the Bears quarterback said. "I've never met the guy. This is my first encounter with him. We'll see him in a few weeks."

Show me the way: Tommie Harris' first career interception early in the second quarter set up a Bears touchdown, but it didn't allow the defensive tackle to demonstrate his athleticism.

"I wish you guys were on the field with me when it happened," defensive end Adewale Ogunleye said. "We're going to hear a lot about it. But Tommie looked like a deer in headlights when the ball got in his hands. He didn't know what to do with it."