Cha-ching! Ex-Bear Berrian making big plays for Vikings

Bernard Berrian has begun paying dividends on the $42 million over six years the Vikings invested in him last off-season when he departed Chicago as an unrestricted free agent. Berrian is tied for ninth in the NFL with 436 receiving yards, more than half of which have come in the past two weeks, when he caught 5 passes for 131 yards against the Lions and 6-for-110 against the Saints, with 1 TD in each game.

"His play-making is evident," Bears offensive coordinator Ron Turner said. "What he's doing there, what he's done in their last 2 wins, he was a very prominent factor at the end of the game. He's a great player."

And the Bears miss him.

"If you lose a great player, you're going to miss him," Turner said. "Fortunately, we've had some guys step up, which you have to do when somebody leaves. That's the nature of this business now. People leave, somebody else has to step up. Do we miss his play-making? Yeah, he's a good player, a real good player."

By any other name: Coach Lovie Smith felt compelled to clarify his characterization of the offense.

"We're a running football team," he said. "We get off the bus running the ball, but if we have to pass, we can pass, how's that? Now, when you're a running football team, you want to get in the position where a team has to concentrate on your run. When that happens, you have to be able to pass the ball, and that's what we've seen the past couple of weeks. When we're put in that position, we can throw the ball."

Quarterback Kyle Orton has thrown for 1,087 yards (an average of 272) and 8 TD's in his last four games, which have also included the top three yardage games of his career. Orton threw for 286 yards last Sunday against the Falcons, 334 a week earlier against the Lions and 268 against the Bucs in Week 3.

Walking wounded: Running back Matt Forte (rest), cornerback Charles Tillman (left shoulder), safety Danieal Manning (hamstring) and wide receivers Marty Booker (back) and Brandon Lloyd (knee) did not participate in Wednesday's outdoor practice at rainy Halas Hall. Although it wasn't listed on the injury report, Forte suffered a left thumb injury in Sunday's loss to the Falcons and wore a splint to immobilize it Monday.

Nine other players were limited during Wednesday's work: cornerbacks Nate Vasher (wrist), Trumaine McBride (shoulder) and Marcus Hamilton (heel), defensive tackles Tommie Harris (knee), Marcus Harrison (ankle) and Israel Idonije (ankle), wide receiver Rashied Davis (knee), punter Brad Maynard (hamstring) and linebacker Nick Roach (shoulder).

Catching on: Wide receivers Mike Hass and John Broussard were added to the practice squad Wednesday.

Hass, who spent the 2007 season on the Bears' active roster, was waived on Aug. 30, signed to the practice squad on Sept. 30, and waived again on Oct. 11. He was also on the Bears' practice squad in 2006.

Broussard was drafted in the seventh round (229th overall) out of San Jose State in 2007 by the Jaguars. He has 4 receptions for 126 yards with 1 touchdown in eight games. Broussard was cut from the Giants' practice squad Oct. 7.