Are these Forte's last 2 games on Bears?

Matt Forte has passed some pretty significant milestones in his eight years with the Bears, but odds are he'll be playing in his final two games with the team that drafted him in the second round in 2008.

He's 17th on the all-time list for receptions by a running back (481), 21st in receiving yards by a running back (4,059) and 39th in rushing yards (8,472).

"I want to return," said Forte, who's in the final year of his $30.4-million, four-year deal. "If you're saying, 'Am I hopeful that I do return?' there's not much hope for it right now because I talked to (the front office) earlier, and they haven't really said anything back to me. There's nothing really to hope for."

Forte was not encouraged by the Bears response to his request, and rookie Jeremy Langford has had more carries in each of the past two games.

"Kind of politically correct-type deal," is how Forte characterized the Bears' response. "I would respect it more if it was just like, 'Look we're not going to re-sign you, or anything like that,' because then I would know. It is what it is. I don't really harp too much on it. I play ball every Sunday as hard as I can and then I worry about that when free agency and all that stuff comes about."

Costly mistakes:

Vic Fangio's defense was scorched for 38 points last week vs. the Vikings, its worst outing of the season (the Cardinals scored 48 but that included a pick-6 and a kickoff return for a TD).

"We had some very untimely penalties in that game, in particular offside penalties that kept drives alive for them, and we can't do that," Fangio said. "We had some coverages that we didn't execute correctly totally, and we can't do that. That was really our uncoming in that game, critical offside penalties and some coverages that we didn't play exactly the right way."

Each of the Bears' four offside penalties negated a play for negative yardage.

An aberration?

"I sure hope so," Fangio said. "If we keep jumping offside, we'll keep having bad performances."

Impressive debut:

In his first NFL start, undrafted rookie linebacker John Timu led the Bears with 8 solo tackles and 9 overall.

"He did fine," defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said. "There are some things he could have done better, but overall he did fine for a guy who hadn't played (defense) in a game since the preseason.

Timu (38 snaps) shared one of the ILB spots with Jonathan Anderson (18 snaps) and had 2 tackles for negative yardage wiped out by offside penalties.

"He reacted well," Fangio said. "The game wasn't too big for him. I think he was comfortable out there and got more comfortable as the game went on. John is a smart, instinctive player. So it's up his alley to go out there and do well."

Injury report:

Wide receiver Alshon Jeffery (hamstring) and linebacker Shea McClellin (concussion) did not practice.

Wide receiver Eddie Royal (knee), linebacker Pernell McPhee (knee), cornerbacks Bryce Callahan (quad) and Tracy Porter (ankle) and safety Adrian Amos (shoulder) were limited.