Playing surface big worry to Bears

The Minnesota Vikings' greatest homefield advantage in Monday night's game may be the Bears' preoccupation with the Field Turf at TCF Bank Stadium, which they seem to have convinced themselves will be worse than tundra.

“I'm so excited,” linebacker Lance Briggs said facetiously. “Seriously, it's going to be frozen out there.

“(There's been) a huge fight, a big ordeal all year about concussions and what can we do to protect the players? Let's send them out to Minnesota on a potentially frozen surface. It's one of the things that makes me scratch my head.”

The predicted high temperature in Minneapolis for Monday is 28 degrees, with a low of 19. Cold, but hardly Arctic.

Still, some Bears players seem to have made up their minds that they'll be playing on a sheet of ice.

“We don't want to go out there and play on a concrete-type surface,” quarterback Jay Cutler said. “We don't get a choice in this. If they say, ‘Play it in the parking lot,' we're going to show up and play it in the parking lot.”

As early as Friday, when 90 percent of the snow had been cleared from the field, University of Minnesota associate athletic director Scott Ellison said he was encouraged with the condition of the field.

On Saturday morning the playing surface was covered with a tarp that had heaters placed underneath it. The NFL has been monitoring the situation all week and has voiced no concerns.

“Because the field (had) been under a blanket of snow and at a constant temperature, the playing surface is in great shape,” Ellison told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

“Because we have not had that constant freezing and thawing that we had prior to the Iowa game (Nov. 27), the field is actually in better shape than it was (then).”

Hopefully that message gets through to the Bears players who were so vocal earlier in the week complaining about their plight.

“The NFL is fining people $75,000, $50,000 for a hit because they want the game to be safer,” safety Chris Harris said. “I don't think it's very safe to play on a frozen field.

“It's kind of like going outside and me trying to grind on cleats and cut in the parking lot. The field is as hard as probably asphalt.”

Despite the concerns of Briggs, Cutler, Harris and many other Bears who were interviewed during the week, coach Lovie Smith took exception when asked if the players' fixation on the field could be a distraction.

“I don't know of anyone who is fixated on the field,” Smith said.

When told that Briggs was, Smith said: “I'll talk to Lance, but our team isn't (fixated). We've played outside before. It's not an issue.”

But Briggs made it an issue Friday when asked if there were safety concerns.

“When you're playing on a surface similar to the one I am standing on right now, everything (is a concern),” Briggs said at the podium in the Halas Hall media room. “Anyone falling, anyone slipping. We all have families; we all want to protect ourselves.”

Other domes in the Midwest were available to the Vikings after the roof of their Metrodome partially collapsed.

But after moving last week's “home game” to the Detroit Lions' indoor Ford Field, they chose to play at the outdoor site accessible to their fan base, in part so they could maintain a homefield advantage.

“If it's based on how many more (Vikings) fans are going to be there than fans from Chicago, I just don't agree with it,” Briggs said. “We didn't build that stadium that collapsed.

“The next thing is to go to a stadium that is sufficient, like Detroit, Indianapolis, anywhere, St. Louis. But that's not what we're doing.”

Maybe some players are making too much of an issue about a playing surface they've never set foot on, but at least Briggs hasn't lost his sense of humor. He was asked if there were a special kind of shoe that could help provide secure footing.

“Yeah, snow boots,” he said. “You know, the boots with the tennis rackets on the bottom? Or cross-country skis. Hopefully, there is a fire marshal there or someone from the health department that says, ‘This is not OK for human beings to play on.'

“But once the whistle blows, it's time to play football.”

ŸLinebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa (knee) was the only player listed on the injury report. He is questionable after being limited at Saturday's practice outdoors at Northwestern University.

ŸVikings left guard Steve Hutchinson (thumb) and quarterback Brett Favre (chest, right shoulder, ankle) will not play Monday. Running back Adrian Peterson is listed as questionable, although he is expected to play.

Defensive end Ray Edwards (ankle) also is questionable.

Minnesota is slated to start rookie Joe Webb at quarterback.

ŸFollow Bob LeGere's Bears reports via Twitter@BobLeGere. Check out his blog, Bear Essentials, at dailyherald.com.