The Chicago Bears are coming off a very disappointing season in which they were ravaged by injuries and breaking in a new starting quarterback in the form of Pro Bowler Jay Cutler.

Even though it seemed that the team was heading in the right direction with the acquisition of a franchise quarterback and the defense getting back to form, the team just fell apart last season and weren’t able to get anything going until near the end of the regular season where they finally struck up some team chemistry.

This season the Chicago Bears look more comfortable on the offensive side of the football with Jay Cutler limiting his mistakes and creating some much needed chemistry with his wide receivers and the defense got a huge addition with free agent defensive end Julius Peppers.

With everything heading in the right direction heading into the regular season, the Chicago Bears could be a surprise team in the NFC Conference, but they did suffer a minor setback recently with four-time All-Pro linebacker Brian Urlacher dealing with a calf injury that will keep him out of Saturday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals.

Obviously, the Bears will not need Urlacher starring down Cardinals’ quarterbacks Derek Anderson and Matt Leinart this Saturday as the game has absolutely no bearing on the regular season, but the calf injury might have the Bears a bit concerned as Urlacher went down with wrist injury last year that kept him out 15 games.

With Brian Urlacher watching from the sidelines, veteran linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer will take his place for the time being. At present, the Bears are favored by 3.5 over the Cardinals by Bodog, one of the leading online sportsbooks.

Hopefully this is an injury that Urlacher can quickly bounce back from as he is a vital part of the Chicago Bears defense and will be a much needed asset for the team this season if they want to make a run at the playoffs.

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