Chicago Bears "a difficult situation for the defender does not have a club in the direction of future Hall of Famer Brett Favre, but a source familiar with the defender said Favre would listen if the bears have taken the step.

Bears are not contacted by a 42-year-old Favre, who spent most of his recent hunting days, and it is doubtful whether the team is interested. Even if the parties ultimately communicate, it is unclear whether the bears can lure Favre out of retirement. The source said Favre would listen, but his answer might be that he will retire. The source said Favre was working out and staying in shape.

Calling Bears general manager Jerry Angelo did not immediately return, but coach Lovie Smith dismissed the idea on Monday, adding a new defender.

"This is our team," Smith said of the three defenders on the Bears roster. "We're going to make improvements to our group. We are not looking at the side. We will not advocate a sample or something like that."

Bears still hope Jay Cutler will return before the end of the regular season after surgery on broken right thumb, but Cutler said Thursday that he would be smart for his return and could miss the remainder of the season.

Speculation about possible search defender comes after losing 10.03 Chicago Sunday Kansas City Chiefs. In addition to completing at least 50 percent of his passes for a passer rating of 23.8, the current Bears starter Caleb Hanie threw three interception and threw six picks his last two outings - both losses - go five games of the club winning streak with Cutler at the center.

Given that the opportunities are limited for Hani, he believed the team is considering bringing back former Minnesota Vikings and Chicago native Donovan McNabb, according to a report CSNChicago.com.

Devin Hester the receiver said, "Mike and Mike In The Morning" radio ESPN, it would be a waste of time to enter a new defender at this point.

Bears signed Josh McCown on November 23, to be the primary backup to Hani. However, McCown - who fought for two weeks of practice, according to sources - was among the inactive against the team leaders.

Newcomer Nathan Enderle only club another option. The fifth round to select from Idaho, Enderle has been inactive for nine games and has not dropped pass in the regular season contest.

Grade 2 MCL sprain suffered Sunday running back Matt Forte on Sunday also puts pressure on the defender position. Early prediction of Forte to return is two to six weeks, several sources said.

Hani teammates, meanwhile, continued to express support.

"As of now, we really believe in Caleb," said nickel corner Corey Graham. "We have seen how he's doing a lot of good things in practice, and the like. So we believe in what he can do. Yes, it was a rough couple of games for it. But I'm sure he can bounce back and I'm sure he can be good for us. "

Added receiver Roy Williams: "He's going to have to learn a few more we did not help him as an offensive team, [but] we just try and get better next week.."

Initial rumors of Favre returning to the league came when Houston recently searched defenders Matt Schaub after the injury, and Matt Leinart. According to a source familiar with Favre, the Texans have never made contact, and no superiors, who eventually said former Bears Kyle Orton back from failure to back up starter Tyler Palko current post-season, Matt Cassel damage.

In addition to weighing how Favre has left in the tank, the Club will also have to consider how it can really help to ensure that there would be little time prep, in addition to the circus atmosphere of such an addition would create, and that's why there's probably almost no interest on the part of the club.

Bears got a little help from other teams - Detroit lost to New Orleans, New York Giants lost to Green Bay and Atlanta fell in Houston - at the weekend to save his fifth seed in the hunt for the wild card NFC-berth.

Nevertheless, the team certainly wondered how long his luck may continue, and whether Haney will be enough to improve his game over the last four weeks from Cutler to keep the bears in a statement.