Orton the starter; plenty missing at practice

Any suspense remaining in the Bears quarterback situation ended when Kyle Orton appeared at the podium Wednesday afternoon in the press conference for the starting quarterback.

“I thought I played well in stretches and I thought there was a stretch where I didnt play so well, Orton said. “So I tried to correct all the stuff I did wrong and get back at it this week and work hard and hopefully play a lot better game this week.

There were plenty of missing bodies at the practice. Cornerback Nathan Vasher was not spotted at the start of practice. Defensive end Mark Anderson, returner Devin Hester, quarterback Rex Grossman and linebacker Rod Wilson were sitting out.

It also appeared that defensive tackles Tommie Harris and Darwin Walker were not going to participate. Ditto Lance Briggs, who was injured late in the game at Minnesota.

Check back later on for more information.