Read More: Julius Peppers (DE – CHI), Chris Spencer (C – CHI), Jay Cutler (QB – CHI), Lance Briggs (LB – CHI), Devin Hester (WR – CHI), Brian Urlacher (LB – CHI), Marion Barber (RB – CHI), Nick Roach (LB – CHI), Kellen Davis (TE – CHI), Matt Forte (RB – CHI), Corey Wootton (DE – CHI), Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears at Minnesota Vikings, Jan 1, 2012 12:00 PM CST

The Chicago Bears have already been without Jay Cutler and Matt Forte, and they may be without Brian Urlacher and Marion Barber on Sunday when they close out their injury riddled season against the Minnesota Vikings. Urlacher missed his second straight day of practice on Thursday with a knee injury and Barber did not practice again due to a calf injury.

The good news is that Devin Hester (ankle) was a full participant on Thursday after being limited yesterday. Julius Peppers also returned to practice on Thursday after missing Wednesday’s due to a non-injury related matter.

Here is the full injury report for the Chicago Bears:

For more on the Chicago Bears, visit Windy City Gridiron. For more on the Minnesota Vikings, head over to Daily Norseman.

The Chicago Bears won’t be home for Christmas. However, if they don’t find a way to upset the Green Bay Packers on Christmas night? They’ll be home for the playoffs.

Bears head coach Lovie Smith received more discouraging news in regards to the health of the remaining players on the Bears’ roster. Devin Hester has always been a threat as a return specialist against the Packers’ suspect special-teams coverage units. The Bears need him because of injuries and legal issues that have decimated the receiving unit.

Hester missed the entire week of practice with an ankle injury and is listed as questionable as of December 23, 2011. Smith claimed that the chances of Hester playing weren’t looking very good. The injury would force Earl Bennett into the role of punt return specialist.

Here are a few other key players who may be sidelined for the Bears as they fight to keep their slim playoff hopes alive on Christmas night.

Jay Cutler (Out)

Jay Cutler is still recovering from surgery that he had on a broken thumb on his throwing hand. Following a 7-3 start with Cutler, the Bears have lost four consecutive games with Caleb Hanie as his replacement. Josh McCown will get the start as he’s only completed two passes since the 2007-08 season.

Matt Forte (Out)

Matt Forte suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain in a game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Forte has been ruled out for this game. He was leading the NFL in yards from scrimmage before the injury. This will force McCown to make some plays in the passing game.

Johnny Knox (Out)

The Chicago Bears lost their go-to receiver after he was placed on injured reserve with a back injury earlier this week. Knox would’ve been the return specialist had Hester not played. Bears special-teams coordinator Dave Toub will likely rely on Earl Bennett and Armando Allen if Hester can’t play.

Marion Barber (Doubtful)

Along with Matt Forte, Marion Barber is also expected to miss this game with a calf injury. Kahlil Bell and Armando Allen would receive the majority of carries in their absences. Allen may also handle the kickoff return duties if Hester can’t play. This will be Bell’s second career start.

Lance Briggs (Questionable)

Lance Briggs was a limited participant during practice on Friday. Henry Melton and Briggs are game-time decisions.

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Read More: Julius Peppers (DE – CHI), Jay Cutler (QB – CHI), Lance Briggs (LB – CHI), Devin Hester (WR – CHI), Marion Barber (RB – CHI), Kellen Davis (TE – CHI), Matt Forte (RB – CHI), Henry Melton (DL – CHI), Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers

The Chicago Bears have released their latest injury report, and in addition to Jay Cutler and Matt Forte — both of whom are rehabbing serious injuries — several other Bears were held out of practice on Thursday. Running back Marion Barber (calf), wide receiver Devin Hester (ankle) and linebacker Lance Briggs (ankle) did not practice on Wednesday or Thursday.

Lovie Smith hopes to get Barber, Hester and Briggs back on the field Friday.

Tight end Kellen Davis (back) and defensive lineman Henry Melton (shin) returned to practice on a limited basis after being held out on Wednesday. And defensive end Julius Peppers fully participated after missing Wednesday’s practice for reasons not related to injury.

For updates, stay tuned to SB Nation Chicago. For more in-depth coverage of this week’s game, visit Bears Blog Windy City Gridiron and Packers blog Acme Packing Company. For more from around the NFL, head over to SB Nation’s NFL news hub.

DENVER — Running back Marion Barber was on a roll, enjoying his best game as a Chicago Bear through about 58 minutes of football in Denver on Sunday.

But then it all came crashing down for the seventh-year pro with two costly mistakes. Even early this week, his teammates and coaches were still standing behind him, but the aftereffects of his bumbles were being felt as well.

“It’s on all of us,” Bears head coach Lovie Smith said Monday. “Yes, it’s a coaching thing. It’s on our team, on Marion, on us. All of us. It’s a situation that shouldn’t happen, but it did, and we’re all suffering the consequences for it.”

Despite rushing for 108 yards on 27 carries and helping the Bears build a 10-0 lead with a solid all-around game, Barber’s first mistake was a killer. Though he was trying to get extra yardage, he failed to stay in bounds on the first play after the two-minute warning with Denver out of timeouts. He later fumbled in overtime, leading to Denver’s game-winning field goal.

Of the two, the running out of bounds will be remembered most, because if he just dropped to the ground, the game would have most likely ended with the Bears’ offense on the field.

“I’m sure we’d all like to have that one back … All running backs are trying to get a couple more yards here or there, but we have to know the situation,” Smith said. “In that situation, we have to be able to keep the ball in bounds. He’ll tell you that.”

But instead of telling anybody anything, Barber constantly clears out his locker and bolts from the building before reporters are allowed in. Barber has talked to the media just twice this season, for about 30 seconds on each occasion. He was not around to discuss his mental mistake that cost the Bears an easy touchdown in the previous game as well, when he lined up off the line of scrimmage during a 25-20 loss to Oakland.

“I hope a lot of us,” guard Lance Louis said, “learn some lessons from this.”

Despite the mistakes, there are still teammates who insist they have a lot of confidence in the guy who averaged four yards per carry against a tough Denver defense.

“Marion Barber is going to help us get into the playoffs,” linebacker Lance Briggs said. “Things happen. They happen to all of us … If he just keeps his head up, he’s going to help the Bears win some games.”

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

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – No Jay Cutler. No Matt Cassel, either.

Star power at quarterback may be lacking when the Chicago Bears play host to the Kansas City Chiefs today. Intrigue won’t be hard to find, though.

Cutler is out indefinitely with a broken right thumb. A right hand injury ended Cassel’s season early. And that means both teams have big questions at quarterback.

Caleb Hanie is trying to keep the Bears (7-4) in contention with Cutler sidelined.

The Chiefs (4-7) have another issue at quarterback.

Coach Todd Haley said Tyler Palko’s the man – for now – even though Kyle Orton is in the fold. But how long will that last before Orton starts taking snaps against his former team?

“Tyler is our starter,” Haley said. “We got to get Kyle ready to play. He might have to play, and he might not. That’s the situation, right now, as we speak.”

Palko said, “I’m the starter, from what Todd has told me. And let everything else play out as it may.”

For Chicago, there’s no question who will be lining up at quarterback.

Hanie is the man, and he probably will be with Cutler out as long as he doesn’t have some sort of meltdown.

“We’ve just got to be really careful what kind of situations we put him in,” Cutler said. “(Offensive coordinator Mike Martz has) got to be careful with that. We don’t really know what Caleb’s comfortable with; Caleb doesn’t know what he’s comfortable with. He hasn’t run a lot of these plays, hasn’t run a lot of this stuff in the offense in game situations, in high-pressure situations. We’ve just got to take care of him.”

The Bears believe they have enough to get by with stars like Julius Peppers, Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs and Devin Hester. Matt Forte still is enjoying a career year with 985 yards even if he hasn’t run for more than 64 in the past three games.

Of course, Cutler’s injury is a big blow.

He hopes to return this season but isn’t making any guarantees.

In a loss to Oakland last week, Hanie threw three interceptions in the first half and botched a spike, resulting in an intentional grounding penalty that wiped the final seconds off the clock, as Chicago’s five-game win streak came to an end. He also threw for 254 yards and two TDs.

“Looking back, there were a lot of great things that came out of the game, so I feel a lot more confident now watching the film, seeing that it wasn’t as bad as it might have felt after the game,” Hanie said.

Martz said he simplified things early, which might have contributed to the problems.

“You limit him, and on certain coverages it’s hard to get guys open,” Martz said. “So you’ve got to give him the full scope of things because he can see things and react to it, and make those throws. You’ve just got to get him going with it. When he did that, he played well. So that was very encouraging.”