The death of a 23-year-old fan who fell from a Soldier Field concourse during halftime of Sunday's game between the Bears and Eagles appears to have been accidental, an official said. Witnesses and friends gave differing accounts about the moments before the man, identified publicly by the Cook County medical examiner's office Monday as Stewart Haverty. He cleared a 3-foot railing and fell more than 35 feet onto the roof of a storage building.

Jay Cutler is ranked 21st in the NFL in passer rating, with a mark of 84.2. He credits Chicago's defense with the team's successful record. "Our defense couldn't do the things that we're doing now in Denver," said Cutler. "We weren't the No. 1 ranked, so we had to go out there and score points. We had to push the ball down the field."

Bears coach Lovie Smith may be in line for a contract extension thanks to the team's strong showing this season. Chicago is 7-3, which has changed Smith's status after he was once considered a sitting duck. "We've seen the same thing we've seen every year from Lovie," general manager Peter Angelo said. "He always has been a great leader for us. I keep going back to that adversity, those thorns, he continues to create hope and the guys rally around Lovie. "You can say what you want to say. I've read everything that you've said, most of it to me is unfair because the guy has really done an outstanding job of keeping the team together. I think that is critical for a head coach in this league. You can't minimize that and he doesn't get enough credit for that. "He has done a great job of leading this team. I feel the staff has really galvanized in a short period of time with the newness of the coaches. Hopefully we're going to see the fruits of that the second half of the season."

Dolphins wide receiver Brandon Marshall has admitted to making a "boneheaded move" in Thursday night's loss to the Bears. Marshall was flagged for taunting when he tossed the football to Bears quarterback Jay Cutler following a reception. "I let a lot of people down," Marshall said. "We all took our turns in stalling our team, myself included. [I] dropped two balls and got a dumb penalty fooling around with Jay Cutler. That's not acceptable, especially in a game like that. We were all disappointed." Marshall and Cutler were teammates in Denver. "After the game we talked and there's nothing bad there," Marshall said. "That was a boneheaded move by me. It cost our team some yardage and I wish I can have that play back."

Bears quarterback Jay Cutler knew what buttons to push Thursday night against the Dolphins, especially in regards to former Broncos teammate Brandon Marshall. "Brandon's one of my good friends," Cutler said Friday on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000. "I just got him fired up before the game. I told him we were going to put someone over the top on him and limit him as much as possible. "That frustrates him probably more than anything. He's such a competitor, he wants the ball on every play. Whenever teams go out of their way to shut him down, just as a sign of respect, it really gets to him. So I tried to fire him up as much as possible." With 10 minutes left in the first half and the Bears leading 6-0, Marshall caught a short pass, made a nice move and gained 14 yards to the Miami 40. He was knocked out of bounds at the Bears' sideline, saw Cutler and flipped him the ball. It drew a 15-yard penalty, and Miami had to punt three downs later. "When he caught that ball, broke the tackle and hit the sideline, I think he was telling me he can still beat [the coverage] anyway," Cutler said.

Chicago's defense allowed only 187 yards and a single third-down conversion Thursday night, and the Bears won 16-0 to send the injury-ravaged Dolphins to their second home shutout in 40 years, according to an Associated Press report.

Vikings wide receiver Sidney Rice remains inactive and will not play against the Bears on Sunday afternoon. Rice has been out all season after having hip surgery in August. He practiced all week, but in order to be eligible for Sunday's game Minnesota would have had to active him on Saturday afternoon. Vikings coach Brad Childress said Friday that it was up to Rice to determine if he was ready to return.

Brian Urlacher was asked this week if he hopes the Bears can deliver a potential season-ending blow to the Vikings on Sunday. "I hope so," said Urlacher. "I think 3-6 would be tough to come back from. The NFC's wide open, but it'd be tough to come back from that. "That said, it's going to be tough to get them to 3-6."

Chicago offensive coordinator Mike Martz was unaware that Randy Moss was placed on waivers by the Vikings and that his team therefore had an opportunity to claim him. "Here's how dumb I am," said Martz. "Honest to goodness, I don't mean this with any disrespect, but I kind of hide in a cave during the season. I don't look at the Internet. I couldn't tell you anything that's written in a newspaper. I didn't even know that happened, until just recently. I can't comment on that. I would never comment on another player that's not on our squad."

Kurt Warner says that Jay Cutler is struggling with Chicago's new offensive system, led by offensive coordinator Mike Martz. Warner starred in Martz's offense with the Rams and sees Cutler struggling with "confidence and understanding" while trying to adapt to the complicated system. "I think he's a perfect fit from a confidence, from an ability standpoint," Warner said Tuesday. "But where I think it has to adjust is he's got to be able to anticipate within that offense and see things ahead of time, throw the ball before a guy gets open, trust the guy to come open or move to his next read. That's where I see him struggling right now within that offense."