Brown dodges bad injury

Bears coach Lovie Smith delivered some good news Monday when he said that defensive end Alex Brown should be able to play next week against the Seattle Seahawks.

"Alex Brown has an ankle sprain, no more than that," Smith said. "He should be good to go."

After a dominant game, Brown injured his left ankle late in the fourth quarter of Sunday's 17-14 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. He pounded the field and rolled on the grass in obvious pain, and the team summoned a cart from the tunnels in case he needed to be carried off of the field.

Fortunately, the cart was not needed. Bears teammates Olin Kreutz and Israel Idonije helped Brown hobble off of the field, and he remained on the sidelines for the rest of the game.

On Monday, Smith admitted that he feared the worst while Brown writhed on the field.

"Every time a player goes down and doesn’t get up and you stop the game, that’s your first thought," Smith said. "You hope that it’s not serious. When they are on the field for awhile, of course, you even start thinking a little bit more. But luckily, in Alex’s case, that isn’t the case.

"He means a lot to our football team," Smith said. "We need him on the field."

***

Years after the departure of the “Honey Bears,” Brian Urlacher filled in as the team's biggest cheerleader at Soldier Field on Sunday.

Urlacher, who wore a cast on his dislocated right wrist, watched the game from the sideline and spoke with his teammates during the game. The Bears, who went 0-7 when Urlacher was injured in 2004, won their first game without the linebacker since he joined the team in 2000.

“Brian is a great cheerleader, a great captain, a great teammate, a great Chicago Bear” Bears coach Lovie Smith said after the game. “He’s down right now, not being able to play for us, but he’ll help in other ways.”

Hunter Hillenmeyer filled in for Urlacher with four tackles at middle linebacker, while Alex Brown led the defense with two sacks and four tackles in the backfield.