Bears can't forget Peterson's 224-yard day
Forget the film. The numbers alone from the last meeting with the Minnesota Vikings are embarrassing enough for the Bears' defense.
Minnesota's Adrian Peterson rushed for 224 yards in Week 6, more than any player has ever run for against the Bears. The Vikings' 311 yards on the ground were the third-most allowed in franchise history.
"I don't know if he just caught us off guard, but he was better than us," said Bears cornerback Charles Tillman. "That's all it was. I tip my hat to him because he ran through our defense, and that's something that we don't take kindly to. We have pride, and that's one of the things that we definitely pride ourselves on, is run defense."
Tough to forget?
"It's not easy because we were embarrassed," defensive end Adewale Ogunleye said. "He's a rookie, and you never want a rookie to run (for) as much as he did on us."
The Bears (5-8) get a shot at redemption Monday night at the Metrodome, but their prospects for improvement aren't encouraging. Last week they lost starting nose tackle Anthony Adams and backup tackle Antonio Garay. Their best tackle, Tommie Harris, is still playing hurt, and sometimes-starter Darwin Walker (elbow) might not even suit up in Minnesota since he hasn't practiced all week.
Even though Peterson missed 2½ games with a sprained knee, he's already rushed for 1,200 yards, second in the league.
"He's fast, he's strong, he has power," Tillman said. "He has all those things in one bag. And he's explosive, too. So we've just got to come with our hard hats and be ready to go to work."
Before being trampled in that Week 6 game, the Bears were No. 12 in run defense. Now they're No. 24, although they shut down the Redskins' running game last week, allowing only 31 yards on 24 attempts.
The Vikings (7-6) will be a bigger challenge. The NFL's No. 1 ground game has rushed for twice as many yards per game as the Bears, the team that "gets off the bus running the football," 172-82.
"Hopefully as (a) captain of this team, I can get closer to him a little bit," Ogunleye said. "He had some big runs last game, and he broke us down. We played him pretty well -- I know it's hard to say that when somebody rushes for over 200 yards -- but we did. He had a couple of big runs.''
A couple? Try four of more than 25 yards, one in each quarter, including TDs of 73 and 67 yards.
And there's more to shutting down the Minnesota running game than stopping Peterson. The 49ers limited him to 3 yards on 14 carries last week, but Chester Taylor rushed for 101 yards on just 8 attempts and the Vikings won 27-7.
Taylor's 5.3-yard average per carry is second-best in the NFL among players with more than 100 carries, trailing only Peterson's 6.1.
"Both backs are capable of doing the same exact thing if you don't play sound football," Ogunleye said.
• Defensive tackle Tommie Harris (knee) and quarterback Rex Grossman (knee) didn't practice Thursday, and while cornerback Nate Vasher (groin) did some limited activity, he's not expected to play.