Five Bears voted to Pro Bowl; Cutler, Forte put on IR

Middle linebacker Brian Urlacher was voted to his eighth Pro Bowl on Tuesday while his longtime running mate, outside linebacker Lance Briggs, was chosen for his seventh straight Pro Bowl.

They were joined by teammates Charles Tillman, Corey Graham and Matt Forte, who were selected for the first time.

Briggs leads the Bears with 135 total tackles and 76 solo tackles and is tied with Israel Idonije for the team lead with 8 tackles for loss. Urlacher is second on the Bears with 121 tackles, tied for first with 3 interceptions and third in tackles for loss with 7.

Tillman, a nine-year veteran, is not considered an elite cover corner but always has been outstanding in run support and is valued for his toughness and tackling.

He’s third on the team with 101 tackles and second with 74 solos. Tillman leads the Bears with 11 pass breakups and is tied for the lead with 3 forced fumbles and 2 fumble recoveries.

Forte, who was leading the league with 1,487 yards from scrimmage when he suffered a sprained knee early in the Bears’ 12th game that ended his season, made his first Pro Bowl. He and the San Francisco 49ers’ Frank Gore were elected behind starter LeSean McCoy of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Graham, selected as a special-teams player, leads the Bears with 19 special-teams tackles after leading the NFL in that category last season.

None of the Bears were voted in as starters.

Defensive end Julius Peppers, who has a team-high 10 sacks and was considered by some the Bears’ best defensive player, lost out to Jason Babin, Jared Allen and Jason Pierre-Paul, who all had more sacks.

Devin Hester lost out as kick returner to Arizona Cardinals rookie cornerback Patrick Peterson, who has 4 kick-return touchdowns this season.

No surprise:The Bears placed quarterback Jay Cutler and running back Matt Forte (knee) on injured reserve. Cutler has missed the last five games (thumb), and Forte has missed the last three games (knee).With the playoffs out of the picture, the Bears also made two other moves, promoting defensive tackle Jordan Miller from the practice squad to the 53-man roster and signing offensive guard Mansfield Wrotto to the active roster.Miller has spent the season on the Bears#146; practice squad after joining the team as an undrafted free agent out of Southern University.Wrotto originally was selected by the Seattle Seahawks in the fourth round (124th overall) of the 2007 NFL draft. In four seasons he started 12 games: seven at right tackle, four at right guard and one at left guard.Recovery continues:Rookie right tackle Gabe Carimi had what the team is calling successful knee surgery to repair connective tissue around his patella and medial collateral ligament.Carimi has been out since partially dislocating his knee cap in Week 2. He is expected to be 100 percent before the start of training camp.