FOXBORO - In just a few months with the Patriots, Junior Seau became a favorite of Bill Belichick and a respected, emotional leader in the New England locker room.

Unfortunately, he may be leading as more of a mentor and coach for the rest of this season than as a playmaker. It appears that the 37-year old linebacker broke his right wrist in the second quarter of the game against the Bears.

The injury came on Seau's first tackle of the day. On second-and-10, Cedric Benson took the handoff from Rex Grossman, and Seau was there almost immediately to meet him, dropping Benson for no gain. It appeared that Seau came down on the wrist. He was writhing in pain before walking off the field with the wrist in a temporary cast.

Before Seau came off the field, nearly every player on both sides of the ball walked over to the 17-year veteran, to touch his shoulder or tap his backside.

"He's definitely an emotional guy," Ty Warren said. "He had some emotional words before the game. He's here at 5:30 every day when most guys are still sleeping; I have a lot of respect for him."

Tully Banta-Cain, who will likely see more snaps with Seau injured, was hoping for the best.

"I hope everything's OK; I hope it's a temporary thing," Banta-Cain said. "If it turns out that I end up playing more, I'll just make sure I'm fundamentally sound in everything I do."

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The Patriots had two defensive pass interference calls go against them, both late in the game, though only one led to a Bears touchdown.

The first was against Artrell Hawkins on a pass downfield from Grossman to Bernard Berrian. That flag ended up costing the Pats 45 yards and put Chicago at the New England 6; two plays later, the Bears were in the end zone for the tying score.

The second was against Ellis Hobbs. It looked as if Hobbs was the one who was interfered with, but the officials felt otherwise.

"Some of those calls were petty, and not just mine. Sometimes it seemed like the Bears were throwing the ball up and hoping for something to happen, and it did," Hobbs said. "It's an offensive game; they narrowed the hashes, they allow receivers to do what they want after five yards. He (Berrian) was pushing me, and he's credited with the PI and not me."

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Late in the game, there was a bit of a scrum that broke out between the two sides.

On replay, it appeared that Heath Evans, who was given the ball on first down, was stepped on in a delicate area after a 2-yard pickup. The fracas was nothing more than some pushing and shoving, and Evans said he wasn't even sure how it started.

"I didn't even find out until I got to the sideline -- I was defending Matt (Light), Matt was defending me. It was a team thing. I'm just glad we didn't get kicked out (of the game) together. My wife needs the shopping money," Evans joked.

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Before the game, New England took Patrick Pass off the physically unable to perform list and placed him on the 53-man roster.

Pass had been on the PUP list since the season began, but he began practicing on Nov. 8. The Patriots had until Tuesday to place the 28-year-old running back/fullback on the active roster or on injured reserve.

Since putting Josh Miller on IR on Friday left the Pats with 52 men on the active roster, there was no corresponding move for the team to make yesterday.

Pass made one special-teams tackle; he did not get on the field with the offense.

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Yesterday's inactives for the Patriots were: defensive backs Eugene Wilson and Chad Scott, safety Rodney Harrison, linebacker Corey Mays, tackle Wesley Britt, and defensive linemen LeKevin Smith and Marquise Hill. Vinny Testaverde was the third quarterback. For the Bears: wide receiver Justin Gage, cornerback Dante Wesley, defensive back Andre Lott, fullback J.D. Runnels, linebacker Darrell McClover, offensive lineman Anthony Oakley and defensive tackle Antonio Garay. Kyle Orton was the third quarterback.