--Nose tackle Dusty Dvoracek will miss the remainder of the season after rupturing his right biceps on the second play of Sunday night's game, meaning rookie Marcus Harrison and seldom-used veteran Anthony Adams will be asked to fill the void.
Both players stepped up Sunday night, as Harrison was third on the team with seven tackles, and Adams added six plus a tackle for loss.
"Our expectations are for them to move right into that role," coach Lovie Smith said. "Both of those guys have played and played well for us. It's unfortunate what happened to Dusty."
Despite frequent double-teams, Dvoracek is seventh on the team and first among the linemen with 40 tackles, and he's tied for third on the team with six tackles for loss. Dvoracek started all 11 games this season after missing his entire rookie season in 2006 with a foot injury and suffering a season-ending torn ACL in his knee in the first game last season.
"That's very hard for a guy like Dusty to go out like that," Smith said. "No one works harder than him. He's a tough guy. It's just unfortunate; (you) don't know the reason why. As you look at how he injured his arm, (it was) just a typical play that he's made plenty of times."
Adams started eight games last season, but he's been the odd man out most of this season, suiting up for just five of the first 12 games.
"You hate to be the guy to come in after something like that happens," Adams said. "With Dusty, that's messed up. For this to keep happening to him, it's tough. But I've got to step in and just do a great job for him because we're down a soldier, and he was definitely a key part of our defense."
--Pro Bowl center Olin Kreutz gave credit to the Vikings' defensive line for stopping the Bears four times from the one-yard line Sunday night, but he didn't absolve the offensive line of blame.
"Obviously they did a great job," Kreutz said. "They're a difficult defensive line to move the ball on. You have three Pro Bowlers (Kevin Williams, Pat Williams and Jared Allen) out of four guys, but we still have to punch it in at that point. We could've done better, and I know I could have blocked better on those four plays to help us get in the end zone."
--The Bears finally got around to calling their version of the Wildcat for the first time in Week 12 with direct snaps to running back Matt Forte and wide receiver Devin Hester, and it wasn't anything different than what many other NFL teams have already run. But both players are capable of throwing the ball, and that would put a different spin on the gimmick play.
At Tulane, Forte ran and threw from what the Bears call "Cajun" when he takes the snap and "Cane," when Hester gets the ball.
"I can throw the ball," Hester said.
"If he calls it, I'll do it," Forte said. "If that's one of his plays in the playbook, and we put it in, I'll definitely throw it."
The Bears ran the Cajun just once vs. the Vikings and Forte was stopped for no gain.
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