With Brian Urlacher now out for the season, and Pisa Tinoisamoa likely out a few weeks (or day-to-day?) with a posterior cruciate ligament injury in his right knee, the Bears are now down two starters in their linebacking corps. Not good. Not good at all.

So will the Bears go after a free agent to try and soften the blow? Looks like it. ESPN’s Adam Schefter floated the idea of the Bears acquiring Derrick Brooks this morning, and now he’s reporting the Bears are indeed talking to Brooks.

Brad Briggs adds this today:

The Bears have depth at the position and former starters—Hunter Hillenmeyer and Nick Roach—as backups ready to step in, but they’re going to need help. The club could reach out to Derrick Brooks, who played for Smith in Tampa Bay.

“He’s ready to go,” Barnes said. “He’s been training just like normal. He could play Sunday. In the defense, he would be able to come in and assimilate quickly.’’

Brooks had workouts last month for New Orleans and Oakland. He’s 36 but could pick up the scheme quickly.

Brooks isn’t up at Urlacher’s level, but he’s familiar with Lovie Smith’s style, and he went to 11 Pro Bowls during his 14-year career. He’s talented, though he’s obviously lost a few steps now that he’s 36.

If the Bears are looking for a quick fix that will certainly help shore up their linebacking unit, they’d be wise to go after a guy with a ton of experience at the position (and with Smith), instead of fishing for someone less skilled and experienced.

UPDATE: Looks like the Bears are signing LB Tim Shaw. Well then. This doesn’t rule out Brooks entirely, though.

When I play basketball — which is not often these days, for good reason — my friends often refer to me as “Teen Wolf” on the court. This is not because I’m as game-changing as Michael J. Fox’s character in the 1985 movie Teen Wolf, but rather because my skill set and hustle and unwieldy nature and all-around wildness are akin to those of his character. It’s kind of scary to watch me out there. I’m not very good at basketball.

I, however, have never thought of changing my name to Wolf, or anything of that nature. I may not be secure in many things in my life, but I’m pretty OK with the name Ryan. However, the movie Teen Wolf has inspired such an occasion. Tampa Bay Buccaneers DE Greg White legally changed his name to “Stylez G” today.

Circuit Judge Steve Scott Stephens signed off on White’s petition and as White walked through the Bucs locker room Monday, he gleefully distributed copies of the final judgment.

White said he picked his new name from a character in the 1985 movie “Teen Wolf,’’ starring Michael J. Fox.

“That was his best friend’s name,’’ White said. “I always liked that name. It’s not that I don’t like Greg White.’’

In the movie, Fox’s friend is named Rupert “Stiles’’ Stilinski. White changed the spelling and adopted the name as his own.

I have a feeling Christmas might be a little awkward for the White family this year.

Thanks to Evan for the link.

Last night, the Panthers rushing attack got straight up LOOSE on the Tampa Bay Bucs, grinding them out for more than 300 yards. And while that was the “important” story from a football sense, the sickest thing that happened all night was Antonio Bryant catching a touchdown in the fourth quarter to bring the Bucs within seven … and doing it with what is probably going down as the best football catch of 2008:

Of course, if Jeff Garcia had as accurate an arm as the Panthers fan who zinged a beer can at Emmitt Smith Steve Young during the post-game discussion (vid after the jump) then Bryant probably wouldn’t have had to use just one hand.

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Remember Brian Griese? He was that guy that filled in for Rex Grossman when Rex’s arm got tired from all that gunslinging last year. It was a thrilling time in the life of every Bears fan. Brian Griese! Is there anyone more electrifying than Brian Griese?

And now, thanks to the fact that Jeff Garcia and Jon Gruden can’t stand to look at each other, Griese is Tampa Bay’s quarterback by default, and this weekend he gets to face his old team in what will surely be an Important Pregame Storyline. The prodigal bad quarterback returns.

So Griese has stepped back in the Bears’ world, and is eager to survey all he sees. What does he think? How does Brian Griese feel?

“The way they’re playing defense right now doesn’t resemble quite what they played last year or the past two years for that matter,” Griese said Wednesday during a conference call with Chicago media.

Insightful. Please go on.

“I came down here and took the same approach I did in Chicago: Work as hard as I could and control what I could control and get myself in the best position ready to play,” Griese said. “That’s difficult sometimes as a backup because you don’t have the opportunity to show all the hard work you’ve put in if you don’t get on the field but that’s the attitude I took in Chicago and the attitude I took in Tampa.”

Can you feel that? I can. This is the single most exciting Bears Important Pregame Storyline of the year thus far. Even more exciting than “Are the Bears as bad as they seem this? Will Kyle Orton audible this play to a pass? Is Ron Turner alive? Where did I put the spicy nacho Doritos?”