LAKE FOREST, Ill. – It happened seven years ago, but it’s far from ancient history to Adewale Ogunleye. To this day, the Bears defensive end is still motivated by the fact that he entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent out of Indiana in 2000.

“I want to use whatever fuel to continue me on my path,” Ogunleye said. “I don’t want to ever forget where I came from. I’ll continue to work hard and [remember] that I was undrafted. For whatever reason, I was overlooked. But look what’s happened now.”

Veteran Adewale Ogunleye is tied for the Bears lead with seven sacks this season.

Ogunleye’s 53½ career sacks are the most by an undrafted free agent since he entered the league. He equaled a career high with three sacks in last Sunday’s win over the Raiders, tying defensive tackle Tommie Harris for the Bears lead with seven this season.

Ogunleye had sustained a knee injury in college that no doubt caused his draft stock to plummet, but he still expected to get selected. The New York Jets called him and indicated that they were thinking about choosing him in the second round.

“They called me again 10 minutes later and said, ‘If we don’t take you, we want you to sign with us as a free agent,’” Ogunleye said. “I was thinking, ‘This is only the second round of the draft. We’ve got today and tomorrow. I won’t be here for you guys.’”

After getting snubbed, Ogunleye signed with the Dolphins. He played four seasons in Miami before being dealt to the Bears on Aug. 21, 2004 in exchange for wide receiver Marty Booker and a conditional draft pick.

Since 2003, Ogunleye’s 43½ sacks rank fifth in the NFL behind former Dolphins teammate Jason Taylor (53), the Bills’ Aaron Schobel (48), the Colts’ Dwight Freeney (47) and the Packers’ Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila (46).

The other guy: Playing alongside stars Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs, Bears strongside linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer also knows a thing or two about getting overlooked.

“When you’re next to two first-team All-Pro guys, it’s going to be that way,” Hillenmeyer said. “I don’t care. It probably helps me in some respects just because I am the other guy. I’m totally fine with that. I’ve been answering that same question for four years.”

Hillenmeyer matched a career high with a team-leading 13 tackles last Sunday against the Raiders. Though he usually is replaced by nickel back Ricky Manning Jr. in passing situations, the fifth-year pro remained on the field because of the Raiders’ reliance on the running game.

“Hunter did an excellent job,” said defensive coordinator Bob Babich. “His make-the-play grade was extremely high. We were very pleased with his play.”

Just for starters: Matt Hasselbeck can relate to Rex Grossman’s plight. The Seahawks quarterback was booed and benched after just his third game with Seattle in 2001 after arriving in a trade with the Green Bay Packers.

“The key is how you handled the benching,” Hasselbeck said. “For me, I was fortunate that I had real good people around me that kind of helped me through that and helped me handle it in a professional way and helped me handle it in a way that was really good for the team.

“I think in a way I earned the respect of my teammates, not by how I played on the football field, but more how I handled getting benched, if that makes any sense.”

Regaining the starting job midway through the 2002 season when Trent Dilfer injured his Achilles’ tendon, Hasselbeck threw for at least 300 yards in four of the final six games.

“I think it was at that point that I had earned kind of the trust or the respect of my teammates, more so than I did when I first got here and the job was just sort of handed to me,” he said.

“I don’t know much about the Chicago situation, but I do know as a quarterback your teammates have got to believe in you and respect you, and obviously the way to do that is to play well and be a good teammate.”

Believing in Rex: Earning trust and respect from teammates has never been a problem for Grossman, who is one of the most well-liked players in the Bears locker room.

“We admire the fact that he’s taken a lot of criticism and hasn’t cried or whined about it,” said center Olin Kreutz. “We believe we can win with Rex at quarterback and do have confidence in him. But with that being said, we have the same confidence in [Brian] Griese.”