Wednesday Links

"He was very quiet, and everybody who knows Sean would say the same thing," Archuleta said. "He was hard to get to know, but very nice and very respectful. He wasn't a jerk or anything like that. He was just hard to get close to.

"That's one of the things I regret: I wish we could have been closer. And we probably would have been if I would have been there longer."

Hester not only has earned the big money due him, he has earned enough respect to be treated like one of the league's elite players before the NFL's most undervalued player starts to feel unappreciated too.

The player on display Sunday at Soldier Field was the biggest bargain anybody in Chicago will see this holiday season. Hester will earn $360,000 this season--about $73,000 less than Briggs makes per game-- and has two years and $975,000 left on a modest rookie contract.

He came cheap, originally signing a four-year deal that included a $255,000 roster bonus and a $907,500 option bonus for a total of $1.26 million in guaranteed money. The Bears probably could make that back in a weekend selling "Devin Hester, You Are Ridiculous!" T-shirts, even splitting profits with play-by-play man Jeff Joniak, who coined the phrase.

The Bears defense got one, however. Coach Lovie Smith on Monday revealed defensive tackle Tommie Harris had left the field in the first half of Sunday's 37-34 overtime win over Denver with a groin strain. Harris finished the game, though, but now has knee pain, a back problem and the groin strain. He also has had problems with the hamstring he had surgically repaired in the offseason.