Tice has strong Vikings roots
“I still have a lot of friends in the organization and still have some of the closest friends I have in the world living there,” Tice said. “My daughter (Adrienne) lives in St. Paul, so yeah, this is very special.
“But, at the same time, I have to be professional about it and make sure that, just because it's special for me, I don't create any type of anxiety or stress for my players. Because they're already, as we all know, under a lot of it already, but this is important.”
Tice's offensive linemen face one of their toughest tests against the Vikings talented D-line, and he has challenged them more than usual this week to step up. The players are aware that this game means something special to their coach.
“We understand what it means,” center Olin Kreutz said. “But we keep that in the O-line room.”
Perfect fit:
When the Colts didn't offer Tim Jennings a contract after his initial four-year deal expired at the end of last season, he took it in stride.
“It wasn't really like I had something to prove,” the 5-foot-8, 185-pound cornerback said. “But I felt like I had a lot of football left. Unfortunately it didn't continue at Indianapolis, but I thought Chicago was the best fit for me.”
That's because Jennings had played the same Cover 2 scheme in Indianapolis that the Bears use, which made the transition easy for the 26-year-old former Georgia Bulldog. Jennings moved into the starting lineup in the third game, taking Zack Bowman's spot.
Main man:
For all the talk about Brett Favre's latest final trip to Soldier Field, the Bears are well aware that Job One is containing running back Adrian Peterson, who leads the NFC with 857 rushing yards and is averaging 4.8 yards per carry.
“He's a physical running back. He's a tough guy,” said Bears defensive end Julius Peppers.
“We've got to get a lot of hats to him because we don't want to have one guy with that responsibility of trying to get him down. We've got to hustle to the ball and get a lot of guys around him and try to strip him and make him take a lot of punishment.”
Since he entered the league in 2007, Peterson has rushed for more yards than anyone else 5,341 yards well ahead of Thomas Jones, who is second with 4,403. He rushed for 224 yards in his first game against the Bears.
Go-to guy:
Earl Bennett missed all of the preseason and the first regular-season game recovering from a pulled hamstring, and in his first four games back he averaged just 6.2 yards on his 13 catches. But he's come on strong in the past three weeks with 11 catches for 183 yards, tops on the team.
“He's getting more and more comfortable with what we do and understands it a lot better,” offensive coordinator Mike Martz said. “Now we have a significant amount of things just for him during the course of the game. That's what you do. You just try to get guys as they start to grow. He's confident about what he's doing now.”