Ogunleye at a loss to explain Orton's injury

Adewale Ogunleye had a difficult time explaining Kyle Orton's injury to his right index finger, even though it occurred when the two players' hands struck each other during a pass attempt.

Usually those injuries occur when a quarterback hits his hand on the helmet of a defensive player, but not this time. Ogunleye said he was bearing down on Orton with his hands upraised.

"It was one of those freak kinds of things," he said. "Maybe his hand got caught bad as he was throwing it when I hit him."

Paranoid Broncos head coach Josh McDaniel didn't allow Orton to divulge specifics of his injury after the game, but TV cameras showed the finger bleeding and a member of the Broncos' training staff appeared to manipulate the digit back into place.

After the game, Orton's finger was heavily bandaged, and he might be questionable for the season opener.

"I hope he's OK," Ogunleye said of his former teammate. "I pray he's OK. Despite the fact he went to Purdue, we had a pretty good relationship."

Ogunleye, who played at Indiana, said it was strange seeing Orton in a Broncos uniform after three years with the Bears.

"I'm glad we don't play him again," Ogunleye said. "I want him to do well. I want him to be very successful in Denver because he played well for us, too. Hopefully he's going to be fine."

Although Orton had the job won, the Broncos' starting quarterback could end up being whoever is healthier on opening day, Orton or Chris Simms, who is recovering from a sprained ankle.

Things happen: After Jay Cutler's 6-yard TD pass to Matt Forte climaxed a 98-yard TD drive, Bears center Olin Kreutz got in the face of Broncos linebacker Elvis Dumervil, who three plays earlier had drawn a 15-yard penalty for a late hit on Cutler.

"Oh, that's just football," Kreutz said with a smile. "He was playing hard, and we were playing hard, and that's just the way it goes sometimes."

Kreutz was a bit more expansive when describing Cutler's homecoming performance against his former Broncos teammates and a partisan crowd that booed him throughout.

"Jay's a Pro Bowl player, and he showed that," Kreutz said. "He's calm, and we followed his lead. He told us, 'Just relax and play our game,' and that's what we did."

First cuts: The Bears have until 3 p.m. (Chicago time) today to trim their roster to 75, but they reached that number Monday afternoon when they waived/injured veteran nose tackle Dusty Dvoracek and also cut wide receiver John Broussard, punter Richmond McGee and long-snapper J.J. Milan.

Dvoracek, who suffered a season-ending torn ACL in his right knee in the second preseason game, started the first 12 regular-season games at nose tackle last season before suffering a season-ending ruptured biceps. At the time, he led all Bears linemen with 40 tackles.

After he was drafted in the third round out of Oklahoma in 2006, Dvoracek was placed on injured reserve in the preseason with a foot injury. The next season he started the team's opener but suffered a torn ACL in his left knee that landed him on injured reserve.

All NFL rosters must be trimmed to the final 53 by 3 p.m. Saturday.

Ratings winner: NBC Sport rode the Sunday night drama of Jay Cutler's return to Denver to the best television ratings performance for a preseason NFL game in five years.

The telecast earned a 7.3 overnight rating and 12 share for the Bears-Broncos game was the best since the 8.2/13 for a Tennessee-Dallas game on Aug. 30, 2004.

The "Sunday Night Football" telecast was No. 1 on the night, more than doubling second-place CBS.