Urlacher out for season with wrist injury

Bears players, especially those on defense, feel badly for six-time Pro Bowl middle linebacker Brian Urlacher, who suffered a season-ending dislocated right wrist Sunday night and had surgery Monday morning.

But they aren't feeling sorry for themselves.

"It's brutal," defensive end Israel Idonije said. "It (stinks), but that's football. It's a very physical game. Guys get injured; it's just the nature of the game. Other guys have to step up.

"The good thing about football is, it's a team game. Brian's a great player, and he did a lot of great things on the field on Sunday. Now everybody has to pick up their game and step up and do a little more, play a little bit better."

Stepping into the vacuum in the middle of the Bears' defense will be Hunter Hillenmeyer, who started seven game for Urlacher during his injury-riddled 2004 season.

Since then Hillenmeyer has started 49 additional games at strong-side linebacker. He's the most cerebral of the team's linebackers and smart enough to know his role.

"My job is not to go and try to be Brian Urlacher," said the Vanderbilt graduate and former Academic All-American. "My job is to go play the best that I can.

"It's not my burden; it's the whole defense's burden when you lose a guy like him. I feel very comfortable. (But) trying to fill Brian Ulcer's shoes is another story.

"I don't think that anybody could come in and do what he does, and that's not what I'll try to do. I'll try to do the best job that I can.

"Obviously, he's a guy that you can't replace. What he means to the defense on the field, off the field, the whole team from a leadership role - to lose him is tough. But that happens every year to every team in the league. They have injuries they have to overcome.

"It was an expensive game for us. We lost a lot of guys. We don't know how long some of them are going to be out, but guys have to step up. I'm one of the guys that has to step up."

Hillenmeyer has much more experience on the strong side, but he went to training camp this year as Urlacher's backup, and the seven-year veteran has much more experience in the Bears' defense and is more suited to call the defensive signals.

"We feel that Hunter has the best grasp of the entire defense and being in that role," coach Love Smith said. "Our team is comfortable with him playing (there), and he played well last night."

Despite starting on the strong side for most of the previous four years, Hillenmeyer was removed from that equation while Pisa Tinoisamoa, Nick Roach and Jamar Williams battled for the starting job.

Tinoisamoa won the job but suffered a sprained right knee Sunday and is expected to be out 2-4 weeks. He was replaced by Roach.

The Bears signed free-agent linebacker Tim Shaw on Monday to add depth and special-teams help. The 2007 fifth-round pick of the Panthers was cut by Carolina this year.

Smith said the Bears are not in the market for a starting linebacker.

"Pisa went out early and Nick Roach came in and played well," Smith said. "Brian went out fairly early, and Hunter came in and played well, so we feel comfortable with our guys.

"Before we went into the game we talked about the depth we had at the linebacker position. We feel the same way now."

Urlacher suffered the injury with 4:05 left in the first quarter but played the remainder of the first half and wanted to stay in the game after that but was rebuffed by the Bears' medical staff.

"Talk about a guy who's a great leader," Hillenmeyer said. "First, he plays an entire half of football with a dislocated wrist. I don't think there are many people who can do something like that.

"And then the only reason he's not out there is because the doctors won't let him.

"He could be hanging his head, (but) he was excited as anybody every time we came off the field, giving tips and pointers to everybody, stuff that we was still seeing, just like in the game, as if he was still out there."

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