Bears thin at safety position due to injuries

Safeties Al Afalava (shoulder) and Kevin Payne (back) sat out practice Tuesday, as did running back Garrett Wolfe (back), who “will be out for a while,” according to coach Lovie Smith. All three players were injured in Sunday’s 41-21 loss to the Arizona Cardinals at Soldier Field.

Tight end Desmond Clark (neck), defensive tackle Tommie Harris (knee) and cornerback Charles Tillman (shoulder) were limited in practice Tuesday.

If Afalava and Payne are limited or unable to play Thursday night against the San Francisco 49ers, Nate Vasher could continue to see more action at free safety. Craig Steltz or Josh Bullocks also could help fill the void. Neither player has recorded a tackle in limited action on defense this season.

“We have a few guys down, but this time of year it is normally like that,” Smith said. “We have some other numbers, we have other options still. We’ll see how it goes, how the guys feel tomorrow.”

Hester voted NFL's most dangerous return specialist

In a Sports Illustrated poll taken in September, 296 NFL players overwhelmingly selected Devin Hester as the league’s most dangerous return man. The poll is included in this week’s edition of the magazine.

The Bears star garnered 48.6 percent of the vote, easily outdistancing the Browns’ Joshua Cribbs (14.9), the Jets’ Leon Washington (8.9), the Chargers’ Darren Sproles (7.8) and the Bills’ Roscoe Parrish (6.4). 

Hester set an NFL record with five kick return touchdowns as a rookie in 2006. He then eclipsed that mark with six TDs in 2007. This season the Miami product ranks eighth in the NFL in punt returns with an 11.0-yard average, and his 28 returns of at least 20 yards since 2006 are tops in the league.

Singletary set to face Bears for first time as head coach

Bears Hall of Fame middle linebacker Mike Singletary is excited about facing his former team as an NFL head coach for the first time Thursday night in San Francisco.

Singletary, who was voted to a franchise-record 10 Pro Bowls in 12 seasons with the Bears from 1981-92, faced his former team as a 49ers assistant coach in 2005 and 2006 at Soldier Field.

“The Bears will always be a team that I love,” Singletary said Tuesday during a teleconference with Chicago media. The Bears … so many friends, family, memories; that goes without saying.

“I also know that the first time I played the Bears when I first got to San Francisco, coming to Soldier Field and being in all of the excitement and what have you, it was a bit overwhelming.

“I am glad this is not the first time I am playing the Bears because that would be tough. Now that I have played them a couple times, it’s just a matter of going out there and competing against a good football team and trying to do the best I can.”

Singletary’s 172 career starts are the most by a defensive player in Bears history. He was named the NFL defensive player of the year in 1985 and 1988 and was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1998.

Bears defensive tackle Anthony Adams played for the 49ers in 2005-06 when Singletary was an assistant coach in San Francisco. During Singletary’s playing career, the Bears lost six of nine meetings against the 49ers, including blowout defeats in the NFC Championship Game in 1984 and 1988.

“He was always telling us how the Niners would always find a way to beat them,” Adams said. “He said it always seemed like Joe Montana and [the 49ers] just had [their] number.

“He’s a great man. He led our Bible studies. He’s strong in the Lord, strong in his faith. He’s a great motivator, a great speaker. I think the world of him and I can’t wait to see him.”

Bears offense looks to build on productive performance

A loss is a loss. But the Bears offense didn’t perform poorly in Sunday’s 41-21 defeat to the Arizona Cardinals, generating three touchdowns and a season-high 417 total yards with only one turnover.

Forced to throw the ball on virtually every play while facing a huge deficit, Jay Cutler passed for 369 yards—the seventh most in Bears history—and three touchdowns to tight end Greg Olsen.

“Guys are doing their jobs,” Cutler said Tuesday in advance of Thursday night’s game in San Francisco. “We’re limiting turnovers, we’re executing on third down. It wasn’t perfect. We’ve still got a long way to go. The first half wasn’t anything that we’re extremely proud of. [But] we made some plays that we missed in the past. 

"I think we’re heading in the right direction. I say it every week. We’re heading in the right direction. It’s just a matter of us being consistent, going in each and every week and doing what we’re supposed to do.”

Cutler was sacked four times for the second straight week while completing 29 of 47 passes, both season highs. Given the circumstances, he had no complaints about the offensive line’s pass protection.

“Those guys are fighting up there,” Cutler said. “I can’t fault those guys at all. They’re giving everything they’ve got. We’ve been in some situations where we’ve had to put the ball in the air a lot. Whenever you’re throwing the ball 40 or 50 times a game, it’s going to be tough on those guys up front.”

In their last four games, the Bears have converted 45.5 percent of their third-down opportunities (25 of 55), the eighth-best average in the NFL during that span.

Cutler has passed for a franchise-high 255.8 yards per game so far this year, putting him on pace to set a Bears record with 4,092 yards this season. The current mark is 3,838 yards, set by Erik Kramer in 1995.

After lopsided loss, short week a good thing for Bears

Bears players returned to the practice field Tuesday on what’s normally their day off to prepare for Thursday night’s game in San Francisco.

While jamming three days of work into one and then taking a four-hour flight sounds like a hassle, no one at Halas Hall was complaining, especially after Sunday’s embarrassing loss to the Cardinals.

“It's good,” said quarterback Jay Cutler. “Normally we’d be off today and you’d just sit at home and think about the loss. Instead, we’ve come to work and we’re on the road tomorrow, so it’s a good situation for this team right now.”

The Bears typically practice on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in advance of a Sunday game. But this week, they’ll only work out on Tuesday before flying to San Francisco on Wednesday.

“You can look at it two ways,” said tight end Desmond Clark. “You can look at it as difficult because you don’t get as much time to rest or heal your body up. Or you can look at it as I choose to look at it as being a positive. We get to get right back out there and play after losing like that.

“We were able to put that game behind us rather quickly because now we’ve got to focus on a San Francisco team and playing in 96 hours. I look at that as being a good thing.”

After allowing 40 points for the second time in three games in the same season for the first time since 1960, the Bears (4-4) will be seeking redemption Thursday night when they face the 49ers (3-5).

“We got embarrassed and it’s not a good feeling,” said defensive tackle Anthony Adams. “Anytime something like that happens, you always want to go back on the field and correct your wrong. I always say the best medicine is just to be out there on the field. We get a chance to go back out there on the field and show back up on Thursday.”