LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — Jerry Angelo was fired as the Chicago Bears‘ general manager Tuesday following a team collapse marked by injuries to Jay Cutler and Matt Forte and a drug scandal involving receiver Sam Hurd.

Angelo had been on the job 11 years, a stretch in which the Bears reached one Super Bowl and advanced to another NFC championship game. An 8-8 record this season, a questionable draft record and an inability to fill big holes, particularly on offense, led to his ouster.

His dismissal comes after a wild season in which the Bears at one point seemed a lock to make the playoffs. A five-game losing streak, however, spoiled a 7-3 start and kept Chicago out of the playoffs for the fourth time in five years.

Cutler broke his right thumb trying to help make a tackle following an interception during a win over San Diego on Nov. 20. The Bears didn’t win again until the season-finale at Minnesota on Sunday.

It didn’t help that Forte sprained a ligament in his right knee against Kansas City on Dec. 4, leaving the offense without its two best players. Those would be blows for any team, but they were crippling for Chicago. Throw in Hurd’s arrest on federal drug charges in mid-December, and what looked like a promising season turned into a disaster for the team and organization.

The injuries exposed a glaring lack of depth as the Bears tumbled out of playoff contention.

The low point might have been the loss at Denver when Marion Barber ran out of bounds late in regulation. That stopped the clock, giving the Broncos enough time to tie the score. If that weren’t enough, he lost a fumble in overtime, helping set up the winning field goal.

Meanwhile, backup quarterback Caleb Hanie was a bust filling in for Cutler, going 0-4 as the starter before the Bears turned to Josh McCown.

Chicago claimed Kyle Orton off waivers after Cutler went down, but Kansas City had priority and got him. The Bears then brought in Josh McCown, and Angelo left himself open to second-guessing when he decided not to go after Donovan McNabb once Minnesota let him go.

The lack of a reliable backup quarterback, continuing issues on the offensive line and the inability to land a top-tier receiver increased the heat on the general manager.

Roy Williams struggled to hold onto the ball and get open in his first season with the Bears after a disappointing run in Dallas. Hurd, another Cowboys import, was quickly waived after being charged with trying to set up a drug-dealing network following his arrest with more than a pound of cocaine.

The arrest only compounded Angelo’s problems. Now, Angelo’s out and the Bears are picking up the pieces.

For all the criticism, Angelo did have successes. The Bears won four division championships, including the 2006 team’s run to the Super Bowl and last year’s trip to the NFC championship game.

He traded for Cutler and signed Julius Peppers. But he also had a spotty draft record that included such high-profile disappointments as Cedric Benson and Rex Grossman.

Former first-rounder Chris Williams has mostly struggled, and first-round pick Gabe Carimi missed most of his rookie season with a right knee injury. Angelo also was unable to find a top receiver, through the draft, a trade or free agency.

Chicago didn’t anyone ready to step in when a solid but aging line that helped the Bears reach the playoffs in 2005 and 2006 began to go downhill.

Offensive coordinator Mike Martz called for deep drops and Cutler took repeated poundings. That changed after Cutler made his feelings clear. The Bears started getting the ball out of his hands quicker, handing the ball off more to Forte and piling up the wins. But just when it looked as if they had saved their season, everything came apart.

LAKE FOREST — Although most of the blame for the Chicago Bears’ epic collapse is going the offense’s way, the defensive players insisted on taking a share of the responsibility for the six-game slide as well.

“Especially the last two weeks, 38 and 35 points, that’s not going to win very many games, I don’t care who’s playing quarterback for you,” Pro Bowl linebacker Brian Urlacher said.

“We haven’t gotten any takeaways in two weeks, no pressure on the quarterback. You’re not going to win a lot of games doing that. At times we’ve held up our end of the bargain, but at times we haven’t.”

The 73 points given up by the Bears is the worst two-game total for a Chicago defense in 13 years. Last week, the defense was dominated by a rag-tag Green Bay Packer offensive line missing its top three tackles.

“We were right there before things kind of started slipping away,” defensive end Israel Idonije said. “We were in a great position, and we were just really poised to do something special. For that to slip away makes it tougher.”

Last week, the Packers opened and closed the first half with touchdown drives against the Bears and put together three straight scoring drives to ice the game in the second half.

The Bears also faded in the second half in Week 15 at home, and to a team (Seattle) they were supposed to beat. The Seahawks outscored Chicago 31-0 in the second half. Still, 14 of those points were on Caleb Hanie interceptions returned for TDs, and the Bears defense did only surrender 286 total yards.

But no matter how they look at it, this latest stretch for Chicago has not been an enjoyable one.

“You can say we did our job,” Urlacher added, “but we won’t say we did.”

Cornerback Charles Tillman, recently named to his first Pro Bowl, said this defense — this team, for that matter — is close to being great.

“This team we have is very capable. This is a championship team,” Tillman said. “Even though we’re not going to make the championship this year, we’ll take a shot at it next year.”

Bears reporter Jay Taft can be reached at 815-987-1384 or jtaft@rrstar.com.

December 28, 2011 (LAKE FOREST, Ill.) —
Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher was selected to his eighth Pro Bowl, while teammate Lance Briggs made it for the seventh year in a row.

Running back Matt Forte made his first Pro Bowl on Tuesday, hours after being placed on injured reserve because of a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee. Veteran cornerback Charles Tillman was also picked for the first time as was special teams contributor Corey Graham.

The five selections were the most for the Bears since they had eight in the 2006 season. Six-time Pro Bowler Julius Peppers, who leads the team with 10 sacks, was among the Chicago players who did not make it.

Urlacher is the sixth player in team history to be voted to eight Pro Bowls as a Bear. He is second on the team with 125 tackles behind fellow linebacker Briggs (140) and is tied for the lead with three interceptions and two fumble recoveries.

Briggs became the fourth linebacker in franchise history to be selected to seven straight Pro Bowls, joining Hall of Famers Dick Butkus (eight in a row), Bill George (eight) and Mike Singletary (10). He is the ninth player overall to be voted to seven Pro Bowls as a Bear.

The pick comes after he made a hard push before the season for a new contract even though he had three years left on a six-year deal. Management shot down his request, but did try to get something done with Forte, whose rookie contract is expiring.

Those negotiations went nowhere, but he was having his best season before a hit to the knee against Kansas City on Dec. 4 cut it short. Forte was leading the NFL in yards from scrimmage (1,487), ranked third in the league in yards rushing (997) and ranked fourth among all running backs with 490 yards receiving before missing the past three games.

That didn’t stop him from becoming the first Bears running back to make to the Pro Bowl since Neal Anderson following the 1991 season.

Tillman has 11 pass break-ups, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries to go with 107 tackles.

Graham has 20 special teams tackles, and his selection was the eighth by a Bears player under coordinator Dave Toub. Devin Hester (2006-07, 2010) and Johnny Knox (2009) have made it for returns, with kicker Robbie Gould (2006) and Brendon Ayanbadejo (2006 and 2007) also getting picked.

(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

LAKE FOREST — Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher was selected to his eighth Pro Bowl, while teammate Lance Briggs made it for the seventh year in a row.

Running back Matt Forte made his first Pro Bowl on Tuesday, hours after being placed on injured reserve because of a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee. Veteran cornerback Charles Tillman was also picked for the first time as was special teams contributor Corey Graham.

The five selections were the most for Chicago since it had eight in the 2006 season.

Urlacher is the sixth player in team history to be voted to eight Pro Bowls as a Bear. He is second on the team with 125 tackles behind fellow linebacker Briggs (140) and is tied for the lead with three interceptions and two fumble recoveries.

Briggs became the fourth linebacker in franchise history to be selected to seven straight Pro Bowls, joining Hall of Famers Dick Butkus (eight in a row), Bill George (eight) and Mike Singletary (10).

Tillman has 11 pass break-ups, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries to go with 107 tackles.

Cutler, Forte placed in IR

The Chicago Bears placed quarterback Jay Cutler and running back Matt Forte on injured reserve on Tuesday, meaning they will miss the season finale at Minnesota this week.

The moves were hardly surprising given Chicago’s recent struggles.

The Bears (7-8) have lost five straight since Cutler broke his right thumb late in a win over San Diego on Nov. 20, and things took another bad turn two weeks later when Forte sprained the medial collateral ligament in his right knee against Kansas City.

Cutler, who was scheduled to have surgically inserted pins removed Tuesday, threw for 2,319 yards with 13 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Forte finished with 997 yards rushing and 490 receiving and was selected to his first Pro Bowl hours after being placed on IR. He’s the first Chicago running back to make it since Neal Anderson after the 1991 season.

With Cutler and Forte on IR, the Bears elevated defensive tackle Jordan Miller from the practice squad and signed guard Mansfield Wrotto.

Chicago also announced on its website that rookie offensive lineman Gabe Carimi had surgery Tuesday on his right knee to repair connective tissue around his patella and medial collateral ligament.

The first-round pick started the first two games before injuring his knee and briefly returned to practice before having an arthroscopic procedure on the knee in November.

He is expected to be ready before the start of training camp.

Cutler’s injury sent Chicago into a tailspin, knocking out of contention a team that appeared on its way to the playoffs after last year’s run to the NFC title game.

The Bears were eliminated with a loss at Green Bay on Sunday, but they were just about out of it by the time they arrived at Lambeau Field.

One reason was the lack of a reliable backup quarterback.

Chicago put in a waiver claim on Kyle Orton after Cutler went down, but Kansas City had priority and got him. The Bears wound up signing Josh McCown, who was coaching quarterbacks at a North Carolina high school, and passed on going after Donovan McNabb after Minnesota let him go.

Meanwhile, backup Caleb Hanie struggled and went 0-4 as the starter. McCown got the nod against the Packers and performed better, throwing for 242 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions in his first NFL appearance since 2009, but the Bears saw their playoff hopes vanish in a 35-21 loss.

A healthy Forte might have made a difference, but his season ended when he took a hit to the knee against Kansas City. It didn’t help that backup Marion Barber committed costly mistakes in losses to the Chiefs and Denver the following week.

He had a touchdown catch in a 10-3 loss to Kansas City called off because he lined up illegally, forcing Chicago to settle for a field goal, and things only got worse for him the following week.

Barber got pushed out of bounds on a run near the end of regulation, helping give Denver enough time to tie the game. In overtime, his fumble led to the winning field goal.

Graham has 20 special teams tackles.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — The Chicago Bears placed quarterback Jay Cutler and running back Matt Forte on injured reserve on Tuesday, meaning they will miss the season finale at Minnesota this week.

The moves were hardly surprising given Chicago‘s recent struggles.

The Bears (7-8) have lost five straight since Cutler broke his right thumb late in a win over San Diego on Nov. 20, and things took another bad turn two weeks later when Forte sprained the medial collateral ligament in his right knee against Kansas City.

Cutler, who was scheduled to have surgically inserted pins removed Tuesday, threw for 2,319 yards with 13 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Forte finished with 997 yards rushing and 490 receiving and was selected to his first Pro Bowl hours after being placed on IR. He’s the first Chicago running back to make it since Neal Anderson following the 1991 season.

With Cutler and Forte on IR, the Bears elevated defensive tackle Jordan Miller from the practice squad and signed guard Mansfield Wrotto.

Chicago also announced on its website that rookie offensive lineman Gabe Carimi had surgery Tuesday on his right knee to repair connective tissue around his patella and medial collateral ligament.

The first-round pick started the first two games before injuring his knee and briefly returned to practice before having an arthroscopic procedure on the knee in November.

He is expected to be ready before the start of training camp.

Cutler’s injury sent Chicago into a tailspin, knocking out of contention a team that appeared on its way to the playoffs after last year’s run to the NFC title game.

The Bears were eliminated with a loss at Green Bay on Sunday, but they were just about out of it by the time they arrived at Lambeau Field.

One reason was the lack of a reliable backup quarterback.

Chicago put in a waiver claim on Kyle Orton after Cutler went down, but Kansas City had priority and got him. The Bears wound up signing Josh McCown, who was coaching quarterbacks at a North Carolina high school, and passed on going after Donovan McNabb after Minnesota let him go.

Meanwhile, backup Caleb Hanie struggled and went 0-4 as the starter. McCown got the nod against the Packers and performed better, throwing for 242 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions in his first NFL appearance since 2009, but the Bears saw their playoff hopes vanish in a 35-21 loss.

A healthy Forte might have made a difference, but his season ended when he took a hit to the knee against Kansas City. It didn’t help that backup Marion Barber committed costly mistakes in losses to the Chiefs and Denver the following week.

He had a touchdown catch in a 10-3 loss to Kansas City called off because he lined up illegally, forcing Chicago to settle for a field goal, and things only got worse for him the following week.

Barber got pushed out of bounds on a run near the end of regulation, helping give Denver enough time to tie the game. In overtime, his fumble led to the winning field goal