LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Mike Brown has been in the same situation before, but that doesn’t make it any easier. The veteran strong safety was placed on injured reserve for the second time in three seasons Thursday, one day after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right foot.

Brown sustained the injury early in the fourth quarter of Monday night’s 24-23 comeback victory over the Arizona Cardinals, moments after he had returned a fumble 3 yards for a touchdown to draw the Bears to within 23-10.

Mike Brown celebrates the Bears' Week 1 win over the rival Green Bay Packers.

“It’s very disappointing obviously,” Brown said. “I love to play the game. I wanted to be a part of this because I feel like this is something very special and it’s going to continue to be something special. It (stinks) that I can’t be a part of it, but hey, life isn’t fair.

“I’ve enjoyed the six games that I’ve played this year. I’ve had a lot of fun and no one can take those six from me. It just is what it is. The only thing I can tell you is that I have a lot of heart and I’m a hard worker and I know I’ll be back. That’s the positive I take out of it.”

Given the recovery time following surgery, the Bears had little choice but to place Brown on injured reserve, ending his season.

“I’m going to be off my leg for quite a bit of time, so the strength won’t be there,” he said. “I think I’ll be out of the cast and off crutches in probably about 10 weeks, but that’s not enough time to get my strength back and be in football shape. It’s just not possible.”

Brown was injured when his leg got awkwardly bent back underneath him under a mass of humanity during a running play. 

“I’m pretty fortunate that it’s only my foot,” he said. “I’ve seen that type of pileup. Football players don’t want to get caught in that position. It could have been something way more serious. It could have been career-ending and it’s not.

“I know my career is going to continue and I just have to work to get back and get my foot back to where it needs to be so I can play at the level that I know I can.”

Brown finishes the season ranked fifth on the Bears with 28 tackles while adding two pass breakups, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. Against Arizona, he extended his franchise record by scoring the seventh defensive TD of his career while setting another team mark with his third fumble return for a touchdown.

Coach Lovie Smith revealed Thursday that Todd Johnson would start in Brown’s place Oct. 29 when the undefeated Bears return to action after this weekend’s bye by hosting the San Francisco 49ers.

“(Johnson) is a big hitter (who’s) very smart (and) been around a while,” Smith said. “(He) knows the system, has performed well on special teams and we got a chance to see a little bit more of what he can do (against Arizona). He finished the game Monday night and played well in that role. Todd will step up and give us good play at the safety position.”

Brown is trying to cope with his third leg injury in as many years. In 2004, he was lost for the season in a Week 2 win at Green Bay with a torn Achilles’ tendon. Last year a calf injury forced him to miss the final four regular-season games and exit the playoff loss to the Carolina Panthers.

“This is what I love to do,” Brown said. “It’s going to be extremely tough. I was having a pity party and my wife ended that pretty soon. That’s why I married her. She told me to stop feeling sorry for myself about an hour into my pity party, so I got over it pretty quickly. (But) like I said, it (stinks). I love playing the game.”

Although unable to play, Brown will continue to work closely with his teammates, especially young defensive backs Danieal Manning, Devin Hester and Chris Harris.

"It'll be 'Coach Brown' now as we see it," Smith said. “Mike can give quite a bit of leadership. He has a lot of knowledge that he can lend to the rest of the guys in that DB room, so we’re looking forward to him just filling a different role for us.”

“It’s fun to be around these guys,” Brown said. “Being around teammates is something very special. Being in the locker room is something special. Like I said, we have a great team. We have something really exciting going on here and I still want to be a part of that.

“Even though I’m not going to be on the football field, I could still be a part of it just by being around them. I’m still excited about it. I still think we have a great chance of winning the whole thing and I just want to be a part of it.”

Brown is undaunted about having to rehabilitate another leg injury.

“That doesn’t scare me at all,” he said. “I’m a self-motivated guy and I’m going to have no problem getting healthy. That’s what I have to do if I want to continue playing this game and I do want to continue to play.

“I know I can come back and play at a really high level. I feel like I’m one of the best safeties in the league when I’m healthy and that’s my goal, to get healthy so I can continue to play at that level.”

During training camp, Brown predicted that he might not be back with the Bears next season if he suffered another serious injury. But on Thursday the Pro Bowl safety sounded like he expects to return in 2007.

“That’s other peoples' decisions,” said Brown, whose contract runs through the 2008 season. “I want to be back. I feel like the coaching staff wants me back. I think (general manager) Jerry (Angelo) would want me back too, I really do.

“But I’ve been around this business long enough to know that nothing’s guaranteed and being on IR two years out of three doesn’t give me any negotiating power. So it is what it is. But I know I’ll be back playing football next year. I know I will be.”

Roster move: In other news Thursday, the Bears made a practice squad move, re-signing safety Tyler Everett and releasing linebacker Brandon Hoyte. Everett had previously been on the Bears' practice squad from Sept. 4 through Oct. 11.