Matt Forte is entering the final year of his contract with the Bears and would like to sign an extension with the team. Forte joined Walter Payton as the only running backs in Chicago history to post back-to-back seasons with 1,600 yards from scrimmage. His current contract will pay him $550,000 in 2011. "It would be nice [to get the contract done]," Forte said Monday. "It's always nice to have something like that happen. It's really up to my agent [Adisa Bakari] and the Bears to negotiate it. I just want to stay informed with what they're talking about. Hopefully it's all good things. "I love playing for the Bears, and I think it's a great organization and I just want to continue to succeed and play well for them."

Chicago mayoral candidate Gery Chico wants to see a Super Bowl hosted by the city. Chico, who trails two competitors in the polls, said if he's elected, he'll work toward bringing the Super Bowl to Chicago. "We should pursue every possible avenue to bring America's greatest sports competition to America's greatest sports city," Chico said. "If New York can do it, Chicago can do it." New Jersey will host the Super Bowl in 2014, but it's more than weather that Chicago organizers would have to consider. Soldier Field's capacity is just 61,500, which is considered at least 8,500 seats too small to host the Super Bowl.

The Chicago Bears are saddened this evening to announce the passing of team VP Tim McCaskey. Tim was dedicated and took great pride in working for his family?s business. Despite battling cancer over the past 17 months, Tim never allowed the illness to dampen the spirit and sense of humor he was known for at Halas Hall. ?Tim, first and foremost , was a fan ? as passionate, loyal, critical, analytical, committed and devoted a Bears fan as there ever was,? said the McCaskey family. ?The tenacity and dignity with which he fought this dreaded disease is an inspiration to all of us.? The second oldest of Ed and Virginia McCaskey?s 11 children, Tim was named to his vice president position in 1993 after a four-year, part-time affiliation with the club. Tim is survived by his four children, eight grandchildren, 10 siblings and mother.

Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher believes the Jay Cutler controversy could pull the team even closer together next season as it attempts to build off its NFC Championship Game berth. "We're such a close team, and I think we know how to put things behind us," Urlacher said Friday on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000. "Stuff in the media just makes us stronger as a team, pulls us closer together, gives us something to build on." Cutler left Sunday's 21-14 loss to the Packers with a sprained left MCL, but was criticized for his toughness. "It [ticked] me off," Urlacher said. "I didn't think it was warranted. "Anyone who knows Jay and has played with Jay and seen the hits he's taken in his career knows he's not a sissy. He's a tough guy. He goes out there every day and doesn't say anything about what's going on, just practices and plays and goes about his business. It really frustrated me. I didn't think it was warranted, but that's just the way -- with all the social networking now -- it's the way things go."

Bears defensive end Julius Peppers has been fined $10,000 for his hit on Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the fourth quarter of Sunday's NFC Championship Game. On Wednesday, Rodgers shot down speculation that he sustained another concussion on the Peppers hit. "Not too much to talk about," Rodgers said. "I didn't have a concussion. I want to dispel that rumor. No concussion. I was fine. Yeah. Helmets are designed to prevent concussions, I think."

President Barack Obama predicted Wednesday that his Bears will get revenge against the rival Packers next season. "Sunday was a tough day for Bears fans," he said at a Wisconsin energy company. "But even if it didn't go the way that I wanted, I'm glad to see that one of the greatest rivalries in sports is still there. "And we will get you next year. I'm just letting you know," he said. The Packers won last weekend's NFC Championship Game, 21-14, dashing Obama's hopes of going to Arlington, Texas, for the Super Bowl on Feb. 6. Obama said he wanted to make it clear that he didn't come to Wisconsin "because I lost a bet." He was also clear about all the Green Bay jerseys he had received shortly after arriving. "I've only been on the ground for an hour. I've got three jerseys," Obama said. "One of them is from [Packers cornerback Charles] Woodson and he just said, 'See you at the White House.' "

Bears quarterback Todd Collins is weighing his options after an MRI on his throwing shoulder came back normal, according to a source. Retirement is an option for Collins, 39, who is a veteran of 16 NFL seasons. He briefly replaced Jay Cutler in Sunday's NFC Championship Game, throwing four incomplete passes. If Collins had needed surgery, he likely would have retired.

A car salesman in suburban Chicago has been fired for refusing to remove a Packers tie that he wore to work the day after Green Bay beat Chicago to advance to the Super Bowl. John Stone, 34, says he wore the Packers tie to work Monday in Oak Lawn to honor his late grandmother, who was a big Packers fan. Stone's boss, Jerry Roberts, adds that Stone was offered five chances to take off the tie but he refused. "If he loves the tie more than his job, he's welcome to keep wearing it -- elsewhere," Roberts told the Chicago Sun-Times. Roberts told the newspaper that Stone was a good salesman who sold 14 cars last month and that no customers had complained about the tie. "I was just showing my love for my team and it was a nice, smart tie that matched my clothes -- none of the customers minded: They had a sense of humor about it," Stone said.

Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew said he never meant to take a shot at Bears quarterback Jay Cutler or question his toughness. Jones-Drew said Monday that his tweet comparing Cutler to former Florida coach Urban Meyer was merely a joke. "Hey I think the urban meyer rule is effect right now... When the going gets tough........QUIT," Jones-Drew posted on his Twitter page during Sunday's NFC Championship Game. Jones-Drew has received death threats and plenty of ill will from Bears fans. "I never attacked him, called him soft or a sore loser," Jones-Drew said. "I never questioned his toughness. I think people took my joke out of context. I was taking at shot at Florida fans." Jones-Drew acknowledged that Cutler's injury was serious enough for him to leave the game. When Jones-Drew sent the tweet, he was unaware that anything was wrong with the quarterback. "All I thought about was being in that position, being in that game," Jones-Drew said. "I've never been in a title game, so my first thought was, why wouldn't you want to play in that situation?"

Lovie Smith wants a contract extension from the Bears and the team is working on giving him one. "We very much want to extend Lovie, and the job that he's done and the staff. Our focus, our intent is to extend Lovie," general manager Jerry Angelo said Monday. "We wanted to wait until the season is over. That will be part of the business at hand in the next several weeks." One year remains on Smith's four-year, $22 million extension signed in 2007, after the team reached Super Bowl XLI.