Bears stress team defense against Vikings' Peterson
In this season's first meeting with the Vikings, the Bears held Adrian Peterson to 51 yards on 17 carries, his worst game against them since he entered the league as a first-round draft pick in 2007.
The key?
“We tackled him,” Brian Urlacher said. “We did a good job of getting guys to the football, and wrap up when you get there. We played our Cover 2 last time, and we didn't have a lot of missed tackles. He's a great running back. I know he's a little banged up right now, but I'm sure he'll be ready to go on Monday night.”
Peterson, who averages 4.8 yards per carry and is second in the NFC with 1,123 rushing yards, did not practice Thursday because of ankle and knee injuries. He is also tied for the NFC lead with 11 rushing touchdowns.
“He's always dangerous,” linebacker Lance Briggs said. “Adrian Peterson is one of the, if not the best back in the league. It's not always a guarantee if you're 1-on-1 with him that you're going to bring him down. You have to have guys swarming around him. As long as we've got 11 guys flying to that ball, we give ourselves a chance to get him down.”
Before this season, Peterson had averaged 122 yards per game in six meetings with the Bears.
Unknown factor:
The Bears know very little about Vikings rookie quarterback Joe Webb, who is expected to make his first NFL start Monday night. The sixth-round pick out of Alabama-Birmingham has played briefly in two games and thrown 5 passes, completing 2 for 8 yards. They do know he's big (6-feet-4, 220 pounds) and athletic.
“We watched him on film Friday,” Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher said. “He's a big guy. He hasn't started and played or anything like that, but he moves around well. We'll do the best we can. We did a good job against Michael Vick, a running guy, so we'll see what we do against him, but he's athletic.”
Vick threw for 333 yards against the Bears with a 94.2 passer rating, and he ran nine times for 44 yards.
Staying warm:
The Bears again practiced inside the Walter Payton Center on the artificial turf Friday and have yet to work outside this week in preparation for Monday night's outdoor game on FieldTurf at the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium. The forecast there is for a low temperature of 9 degrees Monday.
“The advantage to practicing indoors when it's cold outside (is), I think you can concentrate a little bit better when you're inside,” Bears coach Lovie Smith said. “And we're going to play on an artificial surface, so that's an advantage for us instead of playing out there on the grass.”
Today's practice, which is closed to the public, will be at Northwestern University's outdoor, artificial-surface practice field. The Bears' outdoor practice field at Halas Hall is natural grass.
Healthy and not:
Cornerback Charles Tillman (foot), linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa (knee) and running back Chester Taylor (knee) were all full participants in Friday's practice. For the Vikings, running back Adrian Peterson (ankle, knee), quarterback Brett Favre (ankle, shoulder, chest), guard Steve Hutchinson (thumb) and safeties Tyrell Johnson (knee) and Jamarca Sanford (concussion) did not practice. Defensive end Ray Edwards (ankle) was limited. Quarterback Joe Webb (hamstring) and cornerback Asher Allen (ankle) were full participants.
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