LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Reserve guard Terrence Metcalf has received a four-game suspension from the NFL for violating the league’s policy on anabolic steroids and related substances.

The seventh-year pro from Mississippi will be eligible to return to the Bears on Monday, Nov. 17 after missing games against the Vikings, Lions, Titans and Packers.

Terrence Metcalf was selected by the Bears in the third round of the 2002 draft.

“It’s something that happens,” said coach Lovie Smith. “I look at those things like I do injuries. We’re not going to have a player for a certain amount of time and we’ll go from there. When you make a mistake like that, there are consequences that go with it.”

Metcalf appeared in the Bears’ first six games this season primarily on special teams. He has played in 83 games with 25 starts since arriving in Chicago in 2002 as a third-round draft pick.

In discussing possible replacements for Metcalf on the game day roster, the first player that Smith mentioned Monday was rookie tackle Chris Williams. The first-round pick has been practicing without restrictions while rebounding from back surgery.

“The team will make the necessary adjustments and go from there,” Smith said. “It helps that Chris Williams is making progress each day, so hopefully we’ll be able to get him into the mix.

“He’s been doing a lot of work, some on a limited basis but lately he’s been in full pads and everything. He feels like he’s ready to go, and the Bears need him to step up.”

The team has not announced a timetable for Williams to make his NFL debut.

“We’ve been thinking ahead with Chris,” Smith said. “As far as what the plan is, we’re trying to win games. If he can help us, it’s as simple as that. Chris is a good football player and once he gets healthy enough to actually go, we’ll cross that plane then.”

Another potential replacement for Metcalf is guard Dan Buenning. The fourth-year pro has been inactive for the first six contests after being acquired Sept. 2 in a trade with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for an undisclosed draft pick.

“He has made a lot of progress since he’s been here,” Smith said. “He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do. That’s another option we’ll have.”

After further review: A day later, Smith weighed in Monday on what has become perhaps the most talked about squib kick in Bears history, saying he would have Robbie Gould kick the ball deep if given a chance for a do-over.

After Harry Douglas returned the short kick 10 yards to the Atlanta 44, Matt Ryan completed a 26-yard pass to Michael Jenkins with :01 remaining. Jason Elam followed with a 48-yard field goal, giving the Falcons a shocking 22-20 win over the Bears Sunday at the Georgia Dome.

“Special teams-wise, normally we’re pretty good at covering kicks and we didn’t do a good job with that [Sunday],” Smith said. “We didn’t finish up strong that last kickoff. We need to get a little bit more production from it.

“If I had to do something over again—hindsight of course is always a lot better—I feel like I could have helped our team a lot better if we’d have just kicked the ball off deep. But it didn’t work out that way.”

The right call: Smith didn’t second-guess himself when it came to the Bears playing their cover-2 defense on Ryan’s late pass to Jenkins, who split defenders Marcus Hamilton and Mike Brown.

“In hindsight would I have preferred to do something else? No, we’re going to be in that,” Smith said. “That’s the coverage that we like to run in that situation. We didn’t execute it exactly the way we need to, like we didn’t do a lot of things exactly how we needed to do [them].

“A lot of things go into losing the football game, [but] that wasn’t one of them. You don’t all of a sudden start changing some of the things you believe in. The cover-2’s been a good defense for a long time. It’s not going anywhere.”

Health beat: After aggravating a shoulder injury in the second quarter against the Falcons, Charles Tillman’s status for Sunday’s game against the Vikings is unknown.

“He didn’t finish the game, so it’s never good when that happens,” Smith said. “We’ll just continue to give him treatment. Charles Tillman’s a tough guy. It’d be pretty hard to keep him out of games. If he misses a game, there’s something definitely wrong there. I wouldn’t rule him out of anything yet.”

Other injured players who will be further evaluated as the week progresses include cornerbacks Nate Vasher (wrist) and Trumaine McBride (shoulder), nickel back Danieal Manning (hamstring), wide receiver Brandon Lloyd (knee) and linebacker Nick Roach (shoulder).

“We’re down in the secondary right now, so we need to get a few players back,” Smith said.

Welcome back: The Bears on Monday re-signed guard Tyler Reed to the practice squad. The 2006 sixth-round draft pick rejoins  the team after being released from the practice squad Oct. 6.