Burress sentence hits Ogunleye hard

BOURBONNAIS - Defensive end Adewale Ogunleye was disappointed to hear the news that former Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress accepted a two-year jail sentence as part of a plea agreement Thursday for attempted criminal possession of a weapon.

"It's a tough situation," Ogunleye said Thursday afternoon. "I'm probably going to give him a call now, but it's a tough situation."

Ogunleye and Burress worked out together this past off-season in Miami and have known each other since they competed in the Big Ten at Indiana and Michigan State, respectively. Burress was indicted earlier this month on two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of reckless endangerment after he accidentally shot himself in the thigh at a New York nightclub. He faced a minimum of 31/2 years in prison if he were convicted of those offenses.

"It's double-sided," Ogunleye. "Inner cities are tough. The crime rate here in Chicago and New York is high, and they've got to have very strict gun rules. I guess he just made a poor decision, and it's really affected him now."

Ogunleye said Burress' sentence might deter others, including NFL players, from making the same mistake.

"I don't think there's a lot of players really running around with guns," he said. "I live in a lot of places. I'm from New York, I live in Miami, I play in Chicago, and I don't think a lot of guys would walk around with guns on them like that. So I don't know. But I know everybody, if you're living in the state of New York, right now you know not to bring guns anywhere into the city."

In and out: Running back Matt Forte did not play in the preseason opener as a precaution, but he is expected to play Saturday night against the Giants.

"He's got to get some work," offensive coordinator Ron Turner said. "Starters are going to be in there more than they were, and I'd like to see Matt get in there and get 6, 7, 8 carries and get some work, get hit and get the timing with the line and all that kind of stuff."

Tommie Harris and Greg Olsen are expected back after sitting out the preseason opener. Most starters are expected to play into the second quarter. Cornerbacks Charles Tillman and Zack Bowman and safety Danieal Manning will not play.

Who's on third? Traditionally players switch uniforms for the final training camp practice, which isn't nearly as amusing as they think. But it did make for some unusual combinations, Thursday afternoon, like the jersey of 5-foot-7 Garrett Wolfe almost, but not quite, covering half of 6-foot-6 Israel Idonije's upper body.

And place-kicker Robbie Gould's No. 9 jersey will never fit correctly again after being stretched to its limits by 6-foot, 310-pound Anthony Adams. Brian Urlacher and Jay Cutler switched jerseys, leaving Urlacher in an orange "hands off" jersey.

"I can still tell Devin Hester," coach Lovie Smith said of the wide receiver who wore Kevin Payne's No. 44 but looked just as fast as he does in No. 23. "And the guys were a little concerned about (offensive tackle) Orlando Pace in a (Charles Tillman) No. 33 just didn't quite seem right. Like Garrett Wolfe and (Idonije's) No. 71 just didn't seem quite right either."

Burning up: The expectation was that quarterback Jay Cutler would make the Bears' disrespected wide receiver corps better just by his presence and strong arm. But according to wide receiver Rashied Davis, that's not the only thing that has lit a fire under the pass catchers.

"I think (what has) made the receiving corps better is everyone assumes that we're the weak link," Davis said. "So we've focused and pushed hard because we're not going to be the weak link."