Bears to honor Payton in ceremony at halftime

Walter Payton will be honored with a video tribute at halftime of Sunday's game at Soldier Field on the 10-year anniversary of his death from bile duct cancer at age 45.

"When you think about Chicago Bear football, that's one of the first names that comes to mind," Bears coach Lovie Smith said. "A great player on the field, but even a better person off the field. It's an honor to represent the Bears knowing what he did for the organization."

Defensive end Adewale Ogunleye said the Payton tribute will provide even more incentive for the Bears to vanquish the memory of last week's 45-10 loss.

"That's just going to be another log on the fire of what we have to do on Sunday, knowing that a man of his stature is going to be honored," Ogunleye said. "He's not just a Bears symbol, he's an NFL symbol. He's arguably the best running back in the history of the league.

"When you think about it that way, a loss like we had last week (45-10) is just a total embarrassment because of people like him who have come through these same hallways that we walk through. Hopefully we can make up for that (today)."

All hands on deck: It seems even his teammates are uncertain when it comes to defensive tackle Tommie Harris' mindset and his health.

"I don't have a really good gauge of what's going on," defensive end Adewale Ogunleye said. "I know he's going out there and he's (been) practicing this week. He's getting his body right. I don't think he has been 100 percent healthy. But nobody's really healthy in this league. So we need him to give us what he can."

Defensive end Alex Brown says the defense needs all of its key players.

"It's important to have your better players healthy, whether that's Tommie, myself or Wale (Ogunleye) or (Lance) Briggs. Whoever it is, it doesn't matter. Whenever you don't have one of your better players it makes it harder."

The Bears have already lost linebackers Brian Urlacher and Pisa Tinoisamoa for the remainder of the season.

Coach is right: Coach Lovie Smith is far from satisfied with his team's 3-3 record, but he's not ready to crown anyone else this early in the season.

"They don't give out championships in October," Smith said. "You get into position up through October. In November, that's when you decide what's going to happen throughout the rest of the year. We're in position now to make a run, and that's what we need to do."

If Smith says that's the formula for success, defensive end Alex Brown isn't about to argue, although he took awhile to process that particular theory.

"We have a real good idea of how good we can be," Brown said. "It's just a matter of going out and doing it on a consistent basis. I'm not sure exactly what coach said, but coach has a lot of sayings - and most of them are right. So, if he says that the most important part of the season is November, then I completely agree with him."