ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — A person familiar with the negotiations says the Denver Broncos have signed former Chicago Bears backup quarterback Caleb Hanie to a two-year deal to back up Peyton Manning.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal hadn’t been announced by the team. ESPNChicago.com first reported the deal earlier Saturday.

Hanie, 26, who played at Colorado State, spent the last three seasons in Chicago. He replaced an injured Jay Cutler in the NFC championship two years ago and nearly rallied the Bears past the Packers. But he went 0-4 in place of Cutler last season, including at loss at Denver.

The Broncos signed Manning on Monday and then dealt Tim Tebow to the New York Jets. They also considered signing free agent Billy Volek.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

LAKE FOREST — If the Bears were lucky last year, they are certainly paying for it this season.

It was well documented that the Bears caught break after break last season as they rolled all the way to the NFC championship game. They basically suffered no key injuries, while their opponents were constantly downgraded due to breaks and sprains just before facing off with the Bears. The schedule parted for Chicago like the Red Sea, setting up easy matchups all the way through. The fact that they opened the playoffs against the only postseason team (Seattle) with a losing record just fit right in to the well-paved road that was 2010.

But this year, karma is biting back.

“Unfortunately,” Bears general manager Jerry Angelo said Friday, “situations arose that have caught us off guard.”
One after another, after another.

It all started in the second week of training camp in Bourbonnais, when a regional power outage forced the Bears to move practice to a different facility midsession. Just a few days later, the condition of the field at Soldier Field was a disgrace, thus causing the cancellation of Family Weekend, and forcing the Bears players and coaches to board a bus back to camp and practice late into the night.

It didn’t seem too bad at the time, but now we see it was just a sign of what was to come.

The offensive line was so disheveled early on that line coach Mike Tice was called upon to work his magic numerous times, changing the alignment four times in the first six weeks, which included the season-ending injury to his No. 1 pick Gabe Carimi. He has brought it all back together each time, but it hasn’t been easy. And the line hasn’t even been the worst of the Bears’ troubles.

Devin Hester’s “biffing” incident in an area casino; veteran safety, and fan favorite, Chris Harris was benched, then waived; Cutler, playing the best ball of his career, broke his thumb while making a tackle after a fluke interception; Forte, leading the league in yards from scrimmage at the time, went down the next week with a sprained knee.

Then they got “Tebowed” so hard Sunday it may have just knocked them out of the playoffs, and Sam Hurd capped it all off by getting busted for trying to start a drug ring in Chicago that would have made Scarface proud.

Whew. Now that’s a season full of adversity.

“Yea, we’ve had our share this year,” Cutler said. “That’s how it works in this league. … One day you’re in great shape, the next you’re down.”

Last year the Bears were one of the healthiest teams in the league, losing starters for only five games while placing just two players (linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer and running Harvey Unga) on injured reserve. This year, they haven’t been so lucky as six players are already on IR and they have lost nearly 30 games to injured starters.

First came linemen Carimi and Chris Williams, then long-snapper and special teams’ captain Patrick Mannelly went down. And this was a young team to start with. There have been 27 different first-year Bears on the roster this year, with eight undrafted free agents trying to slip into the mix.

Chicago tried to retool in certain areas with players like safety Brandon Meriweather and Cowboy-castaway wide receivers Roy Williams and Hurd. I think we all know how those moves turned out.

“That’s how life goes,” Bears head coach Lovie Smith said Friday, shortly before it was announced that Hurd had been waived. “There are life lessons that are being learned here by our football team.”

This year, the Bears have been learning the hard way.

Jay Taft covers the Chicago Bears for the Rockford Register Star. He can be reached at 815-987-1384 or jtaft@rrstar.com.

LAKE FOREST — The Chicago Bears look to bounce back from their first loss in a month and a half when they face the Kansas City Chiefs at Soldier Field on Sunday.

And to do that, there’s a good chance they will need to stop one of their old teammates: quarterback Kyle Orton. Orton was released by Denver late last month, and though the Bears put in a waiver claim for him, it was Kansas City that was awarded the eight-year veteran.

That has led to a lot of talk this week about which quarterback the Chiefs would play against the Bears.

“We don’t know who we’re going to face,” Chicago defensive tackle Matt Toeaina said. “But if it’s (Orton), we’ll be ready.”

According to Chiefs head coach Todd Haley: “As I said, Tyler (Palko) is our starter. We’ve got to get Kyle ready to play. He might have to play, and he might not.”

But Bears all-pro linebacker Brian Urlacher expects to see Orton in the game Sunday.

“Kyle is a good quarterback, and he knows where to go with the football,” Urlacher said. “He knows our defense, that’s for sure, and it will be fun to play against him again.”

If it is Orton, who the Chiefs are paying $2.6 million for the remainder of the season, the Bears have plenty of familiarity. Orton played for the Bears in 2005, 2007 and 2008, throwing for 30 touchdowns and 27 interceptions in 30 games.

Haley hinted he may be worried the Bears know too much about Orton.

“They have a pretty good feel for Kyle, and his strengths and weaknesses,” Haley said. “But I don’t think there is a great strategic advantage, either way.”

Orton, who has 79 touchdown passes and 55 interceptions in his career, was the starter for the Broncos for 2 1/2 seasons before losing his job to Tim Tebow earlier this year. Now he’s trying to take away a job from someone else — Palko.

So who will be working against the Bears on Sunday? They say they’re ready for anything.

“One’s lefty (Palko), one’s righty. That’s it,” linebacker Lance Briggs said. “As far as we’re concerned, we have to go out and play good Bears defense no matter what.”

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

Read More: Jay Cutler (QB – CHI), Philip Rivers (QB – SDC), Robbie Gould (K – CHI), Nick Novak (K – SDC), Matt Forte (RB – CHI), Johnny Knox (WR – CHI), Ryan Mathews (RB – SDC), San Diego Chargers, Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears are tied 3-3 with the San Diego Chargers after one quarter at Soldier Field, as the two teams traded field goals in a relatively uneventful first period. There were a couple of longer plays, including a nice 31-yard pass from Jay Cutler to Johnny Knox, but ultimate neither team could score a touchdown or force a turnover.

The Chargers initially took the lead on a 28-yard field goal from kicker Nick Novak, finishing off a 47-yard drive, but the Bears responded with a field goal of their own on the following possession. Chicago started back at its own 14 on that drive, but Cutler carried them on a nine-play, 62-yard drive to set up a 42-yard field goal for Bears kicker Robbie Gould.

The offense hasn’t really gotten going for Chicago, yet, as Cutler’s only 4-of-9 for 61 yards while Matt Forte has been limited to only seven yards on his first five carries. San Diego has been a bit better so far, especially on the run with Ryan Mathews covering 34 yards on his first six carries.

The Bears are going to need to tighten things up for the remainder of this game, because so far the defense really hasn’t taken advantage of a beleaguered Chargers offensive line. Without the offense running on all cylinders, the Bears defense is really going to have to limit what Philip Rivers and Mathews can do going forward. Early in the second quarter, San Diego currently has the ball near midfield.

For more on Sunday’s game, check out Windy City Gridiron, SB Nation’s Chicago Bears blog, and Bolts From The Blue, SB Nation’s San Diego Chargers blog. Stay tuned to SB Nation Chicago for more updates.

The Detroit Lions beat the Chicago Bears 24-13 Oct. 10 at Ford Field.

If the Lions could march into Soldier Field Sunday and get a win it would be the first time the team has swept the Bears since 2007.

The 6-2 Lions have gone 1-2 since beating the Bears (5-3). Chicago has won three-straight since the meeting with Detroit.

A loss Sunday for the Lions would place them in a tie for second place in the NFC North Division behind the Green Bay Packers.

Detroit started with a hot 5-0 record before cooling down after the Bears game. A win Sunday would be the team’s 7th-straight win on the road.

Kickoff is 4:15 p.m.

Matt Forte, Jay Cutler and the Bears just want a little respect!
(Matt Slocum – AP)
The Chicago Bears went into Philadelphia on Monday night as 8-point underdogs.

The Bears entered with a 4-3 record, having won three of four. The Eagles came in at 3-4 with a modest two-game win streak.

Based on talent alone, the Eagles should have been given the edge on their home turf. But eight points?

That didn’t sit too well with the Bears, who did their best to change NFC perceptions with a come-from-behind 30-24 win.

“The Chicago Bears should not be 8-point underdogs in a game like this on the road. And our guys played like they felt that way,” Bears coach Lovie Smith said. “We feel like we have a pretty good team that is not getting a lot of respect.”

When they play the way they did Monday, there’s little doubt the Bears deserve more respect than they’re getting.

Jay Cutler threw for a pair of touchdowns — including the go-ahead score with 2:21 left — and running back Matt Forte continued his campaign for a first Pro Bowl bid with yet another 100-yard day.

Forte, who last week said his team was “grinding (him) into a pulp,” bounced back from a pair of early fumbles to rush for 133 yards on 24 carries against the Eagles porous run defense. He’s now second in the NFL (behind Eagles RB LeSean McCoy) with 805 rushing yards.

Don’t look now, but the Bears are smack dab in the middle of the playoff hunt. They’re currently one game behind the Detroit Lions for second place in the NFC North… and look who’s coming to Soldier Field on Sunday.

The Lions rode a raucous Monday night crowd to a 24-13 win in Week 5, but the Bears have now won three straight with Forte’s 365 yards during that stretch.

With the loss, the Eagles fell to 3-5 and now trail the NFC East leading Giants by three games.

CHICAGO — This time, the Chicago Bears defense got to watch all the big plays from the sidelines.

After spending much of the week trying to fix a defense that has been susceptible to the big play, the Bears turned it around on the Vikings in Soldier Field on Sunday night, using a few big ones of their own to pull away for a 39-10 victory.

Quarterback Jay Cutler kicked things off with a 48-yard touchdown pass three plays in, and dynamic return man Devin Hester provided a couple more crowd-pleasing moments as Chicago dominated this one in every way.

“We’ve talked about all three phases contributing. That was definitely the case here tonight,” Bears head coach Lovie Smith said. “Hopefully, this is who we are. … We want big plays like that each week, and we have a lot of guys capable of giving it to us. You saw that tonight. Today, the big plays helped us out a lot.”

The Bears defense has given up three plays of 70-plus yards this season, which equaled the number allowed in 2001-10.

And after they played a role in two 50-plus-yard killers last week, veteran safeties Chris Harris and Brandon Meriweather were benched in an effort to end that trend.

On Sunday against NFC North foe Minnesota, the Bears turned it around, hurting the Vikings with long plays. It didn’t take long to get it going, either.

On the Bears’ first drive, Cutler sat comfortably in the pocket, waiting for Hester to juke his defender and cut to the deep-middle zone. By the time Cutler let loose with a perfect spiral, Hester had gained separation with his speed, and he was easily able to reel it in just as he crossed the goal line for the score from just inside midfield.

“The guys on the line gave me some time, and he is so fast. He can get behind guys so quick, and that’s it,” Cutler said of Hester. “When you get a big one like that, everyone starts feeling pretty good. After that, we just stuck to what we know we can do out there. … This was how it should be.”

Cutler, who finished 21-for-31 for 267 yards with two touchdowns, had three pass plays of 20-plus yards while raising his passer rating to 115.9. His 13-yard touchdown pass to rookie Dane Sanzenbacher in the second quarter boosted the lead to 23-6, and then the entire offense was able to relax as Hester and the Bears’ defense did the rest.

Immediately after Viking running back Adrian Peterson — who was held to 39 yards on 12 carries — scored to cut the lead to 16, Hester wove his way for a 98-yard kickoff return for a TD. He also had a 24-yard punt return a few minutes later, and he was just one broken tackle away from breaking away again.

“There has never been anyone like him,” Smith said. “Does he surprise me? We’re used to it.”

They would like to get used to a defensive performance like this as well. Chicago had five sacks, two by Julius Peppers, and added eight tackles for loss and eight QB hits to the mix as well. Minnesota managed just 286 yards of total offense.

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