Kosuke Fukudome’s welcome to Wrigley Field moment came as he darted up the dugout steps and onto a playing field that was completely made over in the offseason.

Overcast and damp, the conditions were a bit different than the ones he encountered during six weeks of spring training in Arizona with the Chicago Cubs.

“It is cold,” Fukudome said Sunday after the Cubs’ 90-minute workout on a 40-degree day, adding he was eager to make his major league debut Monday against the Milwaukee Brewers.

The narrow right-field corner near where he will line up is one of baseball’s trickiest, made even moreso by a bullpen mound that is nearly on the foul line.

Manager Lou Piniella, wearing a ski hat over his baseball cap, told both of his corner outfielders, Fukudome and left fielder Alfonso Soriano, to study the bullpen and see if it needed to be sloped more to decrease the danger when they run into it to chase a foul ball.

Fukudome, the Cubs’ main offseason acquisition as they try to repeat as NL Central champs and end a 100-year drought since their last world championship, said he would adjust.

“As long as I’m aware of where the mound is, I don’t think it will be that big of a factor. You don’t see that in Japan and it’s going to take more than one game to get used to it,” he said.

The Cubs are facing the team they had to catch and pass last season. Chicago was 8 1/2 games back on June 23 before overtaking the Brewers and winning the division on the final week of the season. It will be Chicago’s Carlos Zambrano facing Ben Sheets on Monday.

With the weather so fickle early in the season, some wondered why the opening series wasn’t played in Milwaukee instead of Chicago because Miller Park has a retractable roof.

Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee was asked about the possibility of playing early games in a dome or at a warm weather city.

“That way you ensure no rainouts or snowouts,” Lee said.

“You’d rather play when it’s warm than cold, but it’s also nice to play on your home field on opening day. … It kind of goes both ways.”

The Cubs got off to a slow start last season and were nine games under .500 in early June. Piniella spent those first two months of his first season in Chicago figuring his team out and experimenting with different lineups before the Cubs began to click.

“Like I told our team in a meeting the National League as a whole is tougher and our division has gotten tougher and we’ve got to be ready to play right out of the gate,” Piniella said.

“We play a lot of games at home early in the season and a good start is very important for us.”

Brewers star Prince Fielder, who led the NL with 50 homers last season, didn’t participate in the workout Sunday at Wrigley because of the flu. But he will play Monday.

“He’s fine,” manager Ned Yost said. “He threw up a little yesterday and had the chills and stuff. But today he rode the team bus, looked great, felt great, was laughing.”

Both teams were trying to test the remade playing surface at Wrigley during their chilly practice Sunday. Some opposing players criticized the surface in the final weeks of last season, saying it was dangerous.

The warning track has been widened. Seventy-one seats were added near the left-field bullpen, reducing the amount of foul territory. The crown of the infield was reduced, and the new grass was noticeably shorter with the cold Chicago winter stunting its growth. That made the infield play fast.

“It’s a lot more level,” Lee said of the surface, which was soft in some infield dirt spots. “Not as drastic a change as I expected in my mind, but definitely different. … I think the summertime it will play even better.”

This time there was no fourth-quarter fade for the Chicago Bulls.

Their 24-point cushion sliced to nine by the New Jersey Jets early in the final period Tuesday night, the Bulls responded, even if they were a little worried it was about to happen again.

“Somewhat,” Chicago guard Larry Hughes said after a 112-96 victory.

“`But instead of letting that stretch go on for three or four minutes, we cut it down. Instead of letting it go on like in previous games, we were able to refocus and get things going back in the right direction.”

In their two previous losses, the Bulls blew an 18-point fourth-quarter lead against the 76ers and then let a nine-point lead get away in the final period Monday night in New Orleans.

With the lead slipping this time, Ben Gordon hit a jumper and Kirk Hinrich sank a 3-pointer from the corner to start an 15-2 run that gave Chicago a 94-72 lead.

Gordon scored 10 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter and Hughes added 16 in Chicago’s balanced attack. Luol Deng scored 20 points, and Drew Gooden had 19 points and 11 rebounds for Chicago.

“We didn’t want that to become a habit,” Deng said of losing late leads. “We were talking to each other that we got to put a stop to it and we can’t become known for that.”

New Jersey played the second half without starting point guard Devin Harris, who sprained his right ankle and limped off the court with 1:56 to go in the second quarter.

Harris’ ankle was swollen after the game, but X-rays were negative and he will be evaluated daily.

Vince Carter led the Nets with 22 points and Richard Jefferson finished with 21.

Both teams have losing records but are vying for the playoffs. The Nets were ninth and the Bulls 10th in the Eastern Conference.

“Very disappointing, our effort,” Carter said. “We made a valiant effort in the third quarter, but we just let it slip away and put us back where we started.

“We’re playing for more than just to end the season this year—we’re playing to continue our season. We can’t have these type of showings if you want to make the playoffs.”

Chicago closed the first half with a 16-0 run to lead 58-34.

Thabo Sefolosha hit a pair of 3-pointers and Deng had a spectacular dunk on a pass from Hinrich to spur the 16-0 run by the Bulls that opened up the big halftime lead.

Chicago outscored the Nets 29-8 in the second quarter—New Jersey’s lowest-scoring quarter of the season, thanks to 3-for-19 shooting in the period.

“That second quarter was a combination of poor shots, turnovers, poor possessions. Then their transition attack wiped us out,” Nets coach Lawrence Frank said.

“We put ourselves in such a huge hole. … 29-8 second quarter and just the way it was happening, that was disappointing.”

But Carter and Jefferson got the Nets back in the game, scoring 14 and 13 points, respectively, in the third quarter, as New Jersey cut the margin to 11.

Then the Bulls regrouped after it got down to nine.

“We got stops,” Hughes said. “We rebounded the ball. When you have a big lead you have to get stops and that’s what we did. … We won’t want to feel like we play well for three quarters and anything can happen in the fourth. … We have to learn how to win.”

Hinrich hit a jumper at the first-quarter buzzer and then added a 3-pointer and another basket to start the second quarter, sparking an earlier 12-0 Chicago run for a 34-26 lead.

Notre Dame was the surprise team of the Big East, almost winning the regular season title after being picked ninth.

It wasn’t a matter of the coaches who made the preseason selection being wrong, it was just that no one could have imagined how much Big East Player of the Year Luke Harangody would improve between his freshman and sophomore season and how big an impact guard Kyle McAlarney would have as the top 3-point shooter in the conference.

The Irish put things together offensively like no one imagined and wound up winning 14 games before being knocked off in the Big East Tournament by Marquette.

That was good enough to get them a No. 5 seed in the East Regional, where they will play Colonial Tournament champion George Mason, a team that played in the 2006 Final Four.

Notre Dame plays a very different brand of basketball than Mason sees in the CAA and that could be a problem for the underdog but GMU is a team that is capable of scoring points if it gets in a shootout while, at the same time, it can win a low scoring game off its defense

While Indiana prepares for its first-round game in the NCAA tournament, the school said Monday that a former trustee will lead a 10-member committee to search for a replacement for disgraced coach Kelvin Sampson.

The head job became vacant last month when Sampson resigned amid allegations of NCAA violations. Dan Dakich, an assistant under Sampson and a former Indiana player and assistant under Bob Knight, took over as interim coach for the rest of the season.

Harry Gonso, a former Indiana quarterback and attorney, will lead the search committee, which includes athletic director Rick Greenspan and former Hoosier player Wayne Radford.

No timetable for the selection was announced, and Gonso said committee members would not comment publicly on progress until a decision is made.

“Harry Gonso is the ideal person to lead a search of this importance,” school President Michael A. McRobbie said in a statement. “Harry has a deep appreciation for both our academic mission and our athletic traditions. He is well aware of the high expectations our fans and alumni have for our men’s basketball program.”

The Hoosiers lost their final two regular-season games and their only game in the Big Ten tournament last week. They will open the NCAA tournament on Friday against Arkansas.

Jerel McNeal missed the Big East tournament last year because of a wrist injury. He’s making up for it big time.

The junior guard scored a career-high 28 points and Marquette (No. 24 ESPN/USA Today, No. 25 AP) beat No. 14 Notre Dame 89-79 on Thursday night in the quarterfinals. He led the team with 21 points in the opening-round win over Seton Hall.

“It was very hard for us to watch him not have an opportunity to play here last year because of his injury,” Marquette coach Tom Crean said. “I think he has made up for lost time the last two nights.”

The sixth-seeded Golden Eagles (24-8) will play seventh-seeded Pittsburgh in the semifinals on Friday night. The Panthers advanced with a 76-69 victory over second-seeded and 13th-ranked Louisville.

McNeal was the conference’s defensive player of the year last season but he missed the last game of the regular season, the Big East tournament and the NCAA tournament because of the injury.

“It was one of the hardest times of my life, working all the way up to that point in the season and not getting to play in the most exciting part of the season, which is March Madness,” McNeal said. “I had a whole year to think about it and I was real anxious to get back to this point.”

Marquette was 0-2 in its only two previous quarterfinal appearances in the tournament and its first win in that round came at the expense of the conference player and coach of the year, Luke Harangody and Mike Brey of Notre Dame.

“McNeal’s been fabulous the last two nights,” Brey said. “We could not get them under control in the second half. That’s a lot of speed coming at you.”

Reserve guard Maurice Acker scored 10 of his 11 points in a 4:07 span of the second half when Marquette took its first double-digit lead with 3:37 to play.

McNeal and Acker played together at Hillcrest High School in Chicago — “We’ve been together since the fifth grade,” Acker said — and they combined to control the game for the Golden Eagles.

Kyle McAlarney had 20 points for the Fighting Irish (24-7), who reached the semifinals last year for the second time in school history.

Notre Dame appeared to be in good shape at halftime, leading 38-32 despite Harangody, the conference’s leading scorer and second-leading rebounder, being limited to just seven minutes because of foul trouble.

The Irish started the second half on a 6-2 run to take their biggest lead of the game, 44-34 with 18:42 to play.

McNeal, whose previous career high was 25 points last season, scored seven points as Marquette answered with a 13-2 run to take a 47-46 lead with 15:51 to go. Harangody, who finished with 13 points, scored eight straight points for Notre Dame but McNeal had eight of Marquette’s next 10 as the Golden Eagles took the lead for good at 57-54 on his 3-pointer with 11:52 to play.

Acker, a 5-foot-8 sophomore who averages 4.5 points per game, started his personal run with a jumper that made it 66-57 with 7:44 left. When he hit his second straight 3 with 3:37 left to give Marquette a 76-66 lead, Notre Dame called a timeout and the Golden Eagles rushed to midcourt and picked up the diminutive Acker in celebration.

“That just shows how we are as a team,” Acker said of the gathering at midcourt. “When someone’s doing good we’re going to acknowledge it. It just makes you feel good knowing you have teammates behind your back.”

Harangody said the first-half fouls “got him out of his rhythm.”

McAlarney credited Marquette’s defense.

“In the second half they went on a few runs we didn’t answer,” he said. “They really got after us and for a stretch they were tougher than us.”

Notre Dame has not lost consecutive games all seasons and Brey seemed relieved that the Irish’s next outing would be in the NCAA tournament.

“I am glad we won’t be playing Big East games next week,” he said. “I’ve had enough and I’m sure other coaches feel the same way.”

Four teams, perhaps five, realistically could contend in the Big Ten tournament.

As Purdue coach Matt Painter put it, any of the teams that would have to play three games in three days has a chance. He could see a team that plays on today’s opening day at Conseco Fieldhouse reaching Sunday’s final, but winning that fourth game in four days could prove to be too much of a challenge.

“I do view it as wide-open,” Painter said.

The Boilermakers, regular-season champion Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan State all could leave Indianapolis with the hardware — those four teams really separated themselves from the conference pack during the course of the season. Ohio State also could have a shot, but faces a tough road that likely would include having to beat three of the conference’s top four teams, including probably the balanced Badgers.

“I’m proud of our young men and the job they did during the regular season,” Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. “We couldn’t be happier for them.

“I don’t know if it’s any one thing — we just survived. I just think we defensively gave ourselves a chance every night, every day, to be on that left-hand side, and that’s where it started. I think our personality developed from the defensive end. We’ve been able to get points in transition. People say we grind — we’re just trying to get good shots.”

The outcome in tournament play could be determined by such factors as guard play, controlling tempo, shot selection, taking care of the ball and leadership.

“Possessions become more valuable,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “One-and-done time, the my-bads and the I-made-a-mistake are out the door now, because you don’t get to make many of those or you’re going home.”

Said Illinois coach Bruce Weber: “I always believe experience is so important, having been through it, dealing with clutch time. More than anything, you have to have a go-to guy, somebody who can make plays in close games.”

But one of the recurring themes heading into the conference tournament was the play of this season’s crop of freshmen, one of the deepest and most talented in recent memory. Several coaches commented about the difficulty in voting for the All-Freshman Team; 10 or more players could have been worthy of inclusion, as opposed to last season when it might have been a stretch to fill out five, even including Ohio State’s Greg Oden and Mike Conley.

The consensus was these freshmen won’t be affected by the atmosphere, with the high-level AAU tournaments around the country in which they have competed and the television exposure through which they’ve seen the intensity of college postseason play.

“Normally, experience is what wins the tournament,” Weber said. “I think Purdue has kind of been an asterisk all season. Their group of freshmen has showed so much poise. They’ve actually played better on the road. I’ve seen them make big shots in big games. I would say maybe freshmen would struggle when they get to the tournament, but certain ones, especially this year, it seems those kids rise up.”

For long stretches Thursday night, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo was sure his Spartans were dogging it.

Looking flat and struggling to find a rhythm, No. 17 Michigan State trailed Illinois by as many as 10 points in the first half and had no answer for center Shaun Pruitt’s 6-foot-10 frame in the lane.

Turns out the Spartans weren’t flat, but ill. But they found a way to overcome Illinois and illness to get a road win, 59-51.

“We had some guys getting sick there during the game,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said, saying he only found out about problems with forward Raymar Morgan—the team’s top scorer this season—and guards Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers. He wasn’t sure just what was wrong.

“I don’t know,” Izzo said. “They’re all throwing up.”

What the ailing Morgan couldn’t provide, senior guard Drew Neitzel did. He overcame a slow start to score 17 points and lead the Spartans.

Illinois led most of the first half. But Michigan State (24-7, 12-5 Big Ten) took its first lead with 2:29 left in the first half on a layup by Neitzel, 31-29, and never trailed again.

“I thought we had a pretty good game out of Neitzel considering he was guarded by one of the best defensive players,” Izzo said, referring to Illinois guard Chester Frazier.

Spartans center Drew Naymick added 12 points, including a pair of key second-half jump shots that helped bury Illinois.

The Illini (12-18, 4-13) were led by Pruitt’s 13 points and six rebounds.

The teams were tied 31-31 at the half, but the Spartans pulled away early in the second half. The 6-foot-10 Naymick hit back-to-back jump shots to open the half and build a 35-31 lead.

“That first five minutes of the second half was just a killer for us,” Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. “(Naymick) hits two in a row there, Neitzel gets a 3.

“Now it’s a seven-point run,” the exasperated Weber said, “and we’re chasing them.”

After trailing 23-13 with 9:25 left in the first half, the Spartans outscored the Illini 29-13 over the next 17:42.

Neitzel, who didn’t score for the first 6 1/2 minutes, found just enough scoring touch to drive Michigan State. He was a cool 5-of-13 from the field, but three of his field goals were from 3-point range.

Illinois closed within three points with just over seven minutes left in the game. But Neitzel drained a 3 less than 20 seconds later to open the Spartans’ lead back to six points.

The loss had a familiar refrain for Illinois.

The Illini have been a first-half team all season, and they’ve struggled to score in the second half of games.

On Thursday, Illinois was just 6-of-19 from the floor in the final 20 minutes.

“Like most of the season,” Weber said, “when you don’t shoot the ball well and don’t make free throws it hurts you.”

Neitzel had a hand in shutting down Illinois’ outside shooting, too. Illini point guard Demetri McCamey had just three points.

“They hit a couple tough shots in the first half but we did a pretty good job on them, especially in the second half,” Neitzel said.

Illinois forward Brian Randle, who Weber last week said he expected would miss the rest of the season with a shoulder injury, entered the game in the second half. The oft-injured senior finished with seven points in 10 minutes.

Michigan State will end the regular season Sunday at Ohio State before the Big Ten tournament starts next week.

The Illini close the regular season at home Saturday against Minnesota.

He stood beaming on a crowded court, celebrating as students chanted his nickname.

“Po-lar bear! Po-lar bear!”

Brian Butch hasn’t always had it this good in his time at Wisconsin.

The up-and-down details of Butch’s collegiate career didn’t matter much Wednesday night when he helped the 10th-ranked Badgers trounce Penn State 77-41 to claim at least a share of the Big Ten title.

Playing in his final home game, the senior had 12 points and five rebounds— a typical rock-solid night for a team that lacks stars but somehow manages to keep winning.

“It’s absolutely awesome, point-blank,” Butch said. “It’s all you can say.”

It is the third time in seven seasons the Badgers (25-4, 15-2) have claimed at least a share of the conference title under coach Bo Ryan—and this one was perhaps the least likely of them.

The Badgers finish the regular season at Northwestern on Saturday and a victory would give them the outright championship.

“You know, it’s a great feeling to see this group come together the way they did,” Ryan said. “Everybody probably thinks it’s easy when you look from the outside.”

Not much was expected of Wisconsin coming into the season. The Badgers had lost stars Alando Tucker and Kammron Taylor, and it was unclear just where the missing points would come from.

But sophomore guard Trevon Hughes proved he could be counted on to score, Butch had a solid season and the Badgers used their size advantage and discipline to play stifling defense.

“I think it still kind of seems surreal,” said Greg Stiemsma, who scored 10 points. “To go out like we did, to achieve what we did tonight, I think it’s really special. It’s one of those things where it doesn’t seem like it should happen. I don’t know if it’s fate or whatever it is, but things fell into place for us.”

Butch has struggled at times to live up to the promise of his status as a prized recruit, and never became a star in the traditional sense. But the Badgers realized his value when he was injured at the end of last season, severely disrupting that highly ranked team’s chemistry.

Butch’s steady presence was an even bigger deal this season, as he played a more prominent role without Tucker and Taylor.

“You know, we had a great year last year, but we didn’t have anything to show for it,” Butch said. “I’ve been saying that the last couple weeks—this year, at least we have something to show for it so far. And we’ve got a lot of basketball ahead of us, too.”

Marcus Landry scored 15 points for Wisconsin, which entered Wednesday leading the nation in scoring defense, giving up an average of 54.9 points per game. The Badgers held Penn State (14-15, 6-11) to 7-for-27 shooting in the first half and 29.6 percent for the game.

“We just couldn’t make a shot, and we couldn’t guard them in the second half,” Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said. “They just went inside and our young kids, we couldn’t match up inside. We’re just not big enough, we’re not strong enough. They went in and took it right at us.”

Wisconsin held Penn State scoreless for a 5:21 stretch late in the first half, going on an 8-0 run to take a 27-12 lead on a 3-pointer by Michael Flowers.

Wisconsin led 34-17 at halftime, then opened the second half with an 8-1 run, taking a 42-18 lead on a driving layup by Hughes.

Talor Battle scored 10 points to lead the Nittany Lions, who were playing without leading scorer Jamelle Cornley. His replacement, Jeff Brooks, picked up three fouls in the first half.

“We just aren’t very good in there right now,” DeChellis said of his team’s post play. “We left our best post player home.”

Tanner Bronson, a 5-foot-11 senior walk-on who has become a fan favorite, got into the game with 4:51 remaining and the Badgers leading by 40 points. He hit a 3-pointer with 2:29 left, eliciting a standing ovation.

“I just do what I can, I guess,” Bronson said, in a short postgame speech to the crowd.

Purdue coach Matt Painter couldn’t hide the hurt.

“It’s frustrating, but it’s one game,” he said. “We controlled our own destiny, and now we don’t.”

Jamar Butler scored 23 of his 25 points in the second half and Othello Hunter, one of Ohio State’s worst free throw shooters, hit two foul shots and made a big defensive play in overtime as the Buckeyes upset the Boilermakers 80-77 on Tuesday night.

The loss dropped Purdue (23-7, 14-3), one-half game behind first-place Wisconsin in the Big Ten. The 10th-ranked Badgers host Penn State on Wednesday and Northwestern on Sunday. The Boilermakers finish at Michigan on Sunday.

The Buckeyes (18-12, 9-8), who had lost their last four, may have revived their hopes for an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament.

“We tried to ignore it,” Butler said of the talk that the Buckeyes’ NCAA chances were dead. “Of course, a win like this can help us. We’re just going to try to get another one on Sunday (at home against Michigan State) and then get a few in the Big Ten tournament, if not win it. And hopefully get in.”

Butler was the biggest difference. He managed just two free throws, missing his only shot from the field, in the first half. In the second 20 minutes, he was 6-of-7 from the field including 5-for-5 on 3-pointers.

“At one point, Terrance Crump, their point guard, told me, they (the other eight players) are going to be playing four-on-four all night because you’re not going to get the ball,” Butler said with a laugh. “I was standing out there and he was denying me.”

Painter said once Butler found his range, it didn’t matter how many players were guarding him.

“If you let someone like Jamar Butler shoot a couple of 3s you can actually play good defense on him and he’s still going to hit some shots,” he said. “That’s what he was able to do.”

Hunter, averaging 9.3 points a game, had 15, as did Evan Turner.

E’Twaun Moore had 16 points for the Boilermakers, who had won 13 of 14, while Scott Martin had 14 and Robbie Hummel added 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Martin’s 3 with 3:14 left in regulation put Purdue up 62-58. Turner, who scored all of his points in the second half, beat his man baseline for a layup. After a Purdue turnover, Matt Terwilliger hit a 12-foot baseline jumper to tie it at 62.

Butler made two free throws with 49.5 seconds left, but Moore tied it again with two of his own with 32.2 seconds remaining.

The Buckeyes set up for a last shot but never got it. Turner drove the lane and drew multiple defenders, but his pass was intercepted by Hummel with a second left.

In the overtime, the Buckeyes built a three-point lead only to have the Boilermakers pull even on a 3 by Moore.

With 1:28 left, Hunter was fouled on a dunk attempt and the 56 percent free throw shooter hit them both for a 74-72 lead.

Hunter then got a hand on an inbounds pass under the Purdue basket that Butler was able to intercept.

“I looked him in the eyes and knew he was about to throw it, so I just jumped,” Butler said.

The teams traded possessions until Turner hit a leaner with 25.8 seconds left to put Ohio State ahead 76-72.

Hummel countered with a 3 to cut the gap to a point, but Butler—one of the nation’s top free throw shooters at 93 percent—was fouled and hit both with 16.7 seconds left for a 78-75 lead.

Moore missed a wild 3 with 12 seconds left and Turner rebounded and was fouled. He hit both shots to seal it and drop Purdue to 5-5 on the road.

“When I got into the game, the look in our eyes, I just knew we were going to come in and win,” Turner said. “That’s what we came here to do—to win. We didn’t want anybody cutting nets down on our floor.”

Ohio State had been in tight games in the final minutes before. Almost every time, they had lost. But not this one.

“I’m very proud of our guys—the word we used was resiliency—in staying with it,” coach Thad Matta said. “By any stretch I don’t think we played perfect, but guys kept going, guys made some plays down the stretch.”

 As he strolled off the practice field one afternoon last season, Bears special teams coach Dave Toub was asked which players could fill Pro Bowler Brendon Ayanbadejo’s shoes.

“Darrell McClover, Nick Roach, Jamar Williams, Rod Wilson … they all have the ability,” Toub said. “Having a guy like Brendon draw double-teams opened things up and allowed each of them to make plays.”

The Bears won’t have that luxury any longer as management has opted not to pursue Ayanbadejo.

The unrestricted free agent was looking for a deal similar to the one for five years, $7.5 million inked by New York Giants special-teamer David Tyree before last season.

Now Ayanbadejo has to take his search elsewhere, and he reportedly visited the New York Jets on Monday. Jacksonville and Green Bay are interested as well.

Losing Ayanbadejo wasn’t the only business matter Monday at Halas Hall. The Bears traded quarterback Brian Griese to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for an undisclosed 2009 draft pick. The team informed Griese last week they would shop him rather than release him.

In completing the trade, the Bears avoiding paying Griese the $300,000 roster bonus he was due Tuesday. The Buccaneers assume Griese’s contract—which expires in 2010—and he was due to make $1.4 million this coming season.

The Bears also have seven days to match the one-year offer sheet the Jaguars signed defensive tackle Jimmy Kennedy to Monday. The offer is worth $705,000 including the signing bonus. Kennedy, a fifth-year player, joined the Bears for the final three games of the 2007 season after signing as a free agent. He had two tackles in spot duty but showed enough to at least warrant a second look from the Bears.

Losing Ayanbadejo will have much more of an impact on the Bears than losing Griese or Kennedy. The two-time Pro Bowler was the special teams’ captain and led the Bears in special teams tackles with 26.

But Ayanbadejo expressed a desire to be more a part of the defensive rotation at linebacker, a request that was unlikely to be granted by the Bears.

Ayanbadejo’s asking price probably was a bit too high, too, considering the Bears already have one special teams standout they need to secure: Devin Hester. Negotiations on Hester’s contract are supposed to become serious this week.

The Bears lost two of their three big free agents, with Bernard Berrian going to the Vikings and Ayanbadejo now looking for a new team. They managed to keep linebacker Lance Briggs after he agreed to a six-year, $36 million deal.

Finding an immediate replacement for Berrian is a priority, and the Bears’ options are becoming slim. Free-agent receiver Bryant Johnson visited Buffalo on Monday and spoke highly of the Bills. He said the only other visit he has set this time is to Washington, but the Bears were hoping he would make it to Halas Hall. D.J. Hackett and Javon Walker are still on the market.