The team's best corner, Charles Tillman, left the Falcons game with a shoulder injury and had his left arm in a sling when he left the locker room. The other starting corner, Nate Vasher, has missed the past two games with a wrist/thumb injury. Backup corner Trumaine McBride also suffered a shoulder injury against the Falcons and was unable to finish. Backup free safety Danieal Manning, who plays nickel corner in passing situations, left the Atlanta game with a hamstring injury and did not return.

"We're down in the secondary right now, so we need to get a few of the players back," coach Lovie Smith said. "Whenever you lose your No. 1 corner (Tillman), it's tough. Hopefully he'll be able to come back before long. Losing Trumaine McBride didn't help us any. Danieal does quite a bit, not just playing DB but also on the special teams. That hurt us (Sunday)."

Tillman appears doubtful for Sunday but hasn't been ruled out yet. Vasher practiced all last week and should be available, but he continues to hedge on his availability. The Bears appear to be counting more on Tillman.

"Charles Tillman's a tough guy," Smith said. "It'd be pretty hard to keep him out of games. If he misses a game, there's something definitely wrong there."

PLAYER NOTES

--WR Brandon Lloyd (sprained knee) has not practiced for the third straight week and will not play Sunday.

--CB Charles Tillman (left shoulder) has not practiced this week and appears doubtful but has not been counted out yet, since he played last week with a painful right shoulder injury.

--S Danieal Manning, who plays nickel back, has not practiced this week because of a hamstring injury and is not expected to play Sunday.

--WR/RS Devin Hester (toe) was added to Thursday's injury report and was limited at practice, but he is expected to play Sunday.

--WR Marty Booker did some limited work at practice Thursday after sitting out Wednesday and he appears to be probable for Sunday.

GAME PLAN: The Bears would love to run the ball but almost nobody does so with much success against the Vikings. It's becoming easier each week for the Bears to depend more on throwing the ball as Kyle Orton continues to improve, and it wouldn't be a surprise for them to put it up sooner and more frequently than usual.

Defensively the Bears remember what Adrian Peterson did to them last year at Soldier Field, rushing for 224 yards and three touchdowns, so they'll focus on him, but they won't disregard the pass, as they did last week, when they got burned by Falcons rookie quarterback Matt Ryan.

MATCHUPS TO WATCH: Vikings WR Bernard Berrian vs. Bears secondary - Berrian departed Chicago in the off-season as an unrestricted free agent and is tied for ninth in the NFL receiving yards with 436. He'll face a banged up Bears secondary. Four of the Bears' top five corners are on this week's injury report as is Daniel Manning, the nickel corner.

Bears rookie RB Matt Forte vs. Vikings DTs Pat Williams and Kevin Williams: The Vikings have allowed an average of 60.6 rushing yards in their last five games. Only two backs - the Packers' Ryan Grant and the Rams' Steven Jackson in 2006 - have rushed for 100 yards against the Vikings in the last 38 games. Forte is fifth in the NFL with 459 rushing yards, but he hasn't averaged more than 4.0 yards per carry since the season opener.