The Bears placed running back Garrett Wolfe on injured reserve Friday, which effectively ends his season.

Wolfe lacerated his kidney Nov. 8 in the first half of the Bears' loss against the Arizona Cardinals. Before the injury, the Northern Illinois alum had established a career high with 120 rushing yards on 22 carries as Matt Forte's primary backup.

Wolfe also scored his first career touchdown this season and contributed on special teams with nine tackles in eight games. He is expected to make a full recovery and be able to play in 2010.

To replace Wolfe, the Bears activated running back Kahlil Bell from the practice squad. Bell started the season as an undrafted free agent with the Minnesota Vikings before he joined the Bears practice squad in September.

In four seasons at UCLA, Bell rushed for 1,741 yards and 17 touchdowns. The 5-foot-11, 212-pound running back also caught 29 passes for 196 yards and a touchdown.

Forte's other backup, Adrian Peterson, has 51 rushing yards on seven carries this season.

-Tom Musick

Bears quarterback Jay Cutler said this week that he would be like to see more of wide receiver Devin Aromashodu, who caught his first pass with the team at San Francisco.

At 6-foot-2-inches tall, Aromashodu offers a bigger target than Bears receivers such as Devin Hester (5’11”), Earl Bennett (6’0”) and Johnny Knox (6’0”).

“Yeah, I’d like to see him,” Cutler said. “He’s a different type of receiver for us. A little bit taller, [but he] still has got the speed. He just presents a different target for me.”

Bears offensive coordinator Ron Turner said Aromashodu could earn more playing time Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles.

“Yeah, possibly,” Turner said. “We’ve talked about that. Last week, we talked about that, getting him in to spell Devin Hester a little bit, and getting him in the rotation somewhat. We could do the same thing this week.”

***

TV star: During a conference call this week, Eagles coach Andy Reid was asked whether he thought his good friend, former Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden, could stay out of coaching.

Gruden recently signed a contract extension with ESPN to remain part of its “Monday Night Football” broadcast. Many observers assumed that he might coach a team in the NFL next year.

“Listen, we just had a Monday night game not too long ago,” Reid said. “John and I are good friends. The son of a gun has lost 25 pounds and looks like a movie star. He’s got to know his kids better and his wife better, [and] play a little golf.

“You know what?” Reid said. “He’s pretty doggone good at what he’s doing there. He’s with a great team with ‘Jaws’ [Ron Jaworski] and Mike. Those are two great guys. I think he’s happy. And I think they’re happy with him.”

***

Grab a seat: Reid also was asked about whether it was tough to bench his star quarterback, Donovan McNabb, during a game late last season.

Reid apparently thought the Chicago media was trying to build a campaign to bench Cutler.

"Listen, I’m not going to go there," Reid said. "I know kind of the direction you’re going here, and I’m not going to get into all that. Go to the next question."

McNabb was far more affable while discussing his short-term benching last season.

"Nobody wants to be benched," McNabb said. "I’m sure you guys don’t want to be pulled from writing your great articles that you guys write, and you’re on suspension for a week or two. Then you’ll probably be outside kicking old papers and sitting on the bench, drinking coffee, and feeling like nobody loves you."

-Tom Musick

Former Bears head coach Dick Jauron was fired Tuesday as the head coach of the Buffalo Bills, according to published reports.

Jauron, who coached the Bears from 1999 to 2003, was 3-6 with the Bills this season. The Bills were blown out, 41-17, by the Tennessee Titans on Sunday to prompt the move.

The 59-year-old former NFL safety went 24-33 (.421 winning percentage) in almost four seasons as the coach of the Bills. He was 35-45 (.438) in five seasons as the Bears head coach, which included a 13-3 record in 2001 and losing records in 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2003.

NFL.com was among the first sites to report Jauron's firing.

-Tom Musick

The Bears returned to practice Monday trying to forget about their latest loss.

At 4-5, the Bears probably will need to win six of their final seven games to make the playoffs. Few characteristics about the Bears suggest that such a turnaround is possible, but coaches and players had no room for pessimism at Halas Hall on Monday afternoon.

"Some of our players made progress the past game we played, but not enough," Bears coach Lovie Smith said. "We need to take it up another step. 'Can we still make the playoffs, are you guys out of it?' We have five losses. Five losses don’t keep you out of anything. Our players realize that. Big game coming up."

The Philadelphia Eagles visit Soldier Field on Sunday night for a prime-time game on NBC.

Bears defensive end Adewale Ogunleye said the Bears remained in the playoff hunt. Possible NFC playoff teams such as the Cowboys, Eagles, Giants and Falcons all lost this weekend.

"If you watch the games yesterday, and just the way the whole season is going, nothing has really run away from us," Ogunleye said. "The Vikings are playing well, they’re 8-1, but besides that, the playoffs and everything is still in our grasp.

"We’ve just got to take it one game at a time," Ogunleye said. "We’ve got a really, really tough team coming in that just lost a tough game, and [both of us] will try to get back on track."

-Tom Musick

San Francisco 49ers coach Mike Singletary insisted Thursday that he felt no extra emotions after beating his former team.

Singletary guided the 49ers to a 10-6 win over the Bears in a mistake-filled game at Candlestick Park. After the game, he was more concerned about his new team than his old team.

"For the Bears to come in here today and for us to beat them, in all honesty, looking at our schedule and the next team that we hve, they'e just another team on that schedule," Singletary said. "I'm very thankful that we could beat them."

In some ways, Singletary said, the 49ers were coming of age.

"We hung in there, we fought, we didn't lose our poise," Singletary said. "We did some dumb things at times with the penalties. We have to continue to work to eliminate those because great teams don't do that, and that's what we're aspiring to be."

On their best day, the 49ers are a good team. That could bode problematic for the Bears, who will face several teams far more talented than San Francisco over the course of the next seven weeks.

The Bears will host the Philadelphia Eagles in their next game before traveling to Minnesota for a game against the NFC North leaders. A road game against the Baltimore Ravens also spells trouble, while the Green Bay Packers' visit to Soldier Field in December offers no promises.

Singletary admitted that he felt relieved to send the Bears home with a loss.

"I'd hate to use the word 'relief,' but trying to think of another one is kind of hard right now," he said.

-Tom Musick