The Bears' Brandon Marshall wants to Bengals cornerback Leon Hall returned to practice Wednesday after being sidelined with a hamstring injury. (US Presswire)

Wide receivers make better divas than players at any other position, but Bears WR Brandon Marshall actually admits to toning it down after his seven-catch, 138-yard effort against Dallas Monday night.

Whether that's a good thing remains to be seen.

"I want the ball every single play, but I am wiser now," Marshall said. "I know that there's going to be weeks where a team is going to take me out of the game. And there may be weeks when Alshon (Jeffery) may be hot. There may be one-on-one coverage all around the board, but it may be Alshon's day or Devin (Hester's) day.

"As long as we're winning games, I'm happy."

It almost sounds like Marshall should be booted out of that exclusive me-first receivers club.

"I have a nice contract, I'm on a nice team, pretty secure," he said. "So the only thing I don't have is wins. What checks my ego at the door is being in a position to win and do big things."

Marshall remains the focal point of the Bears passing game even if Hester and tight end Kellen Davis got involved Monday night more than they have all season. In fact, the Bears passing game works better when he is the chief target. In the opener, when they scored 41 points, Marshall got targeted on 15 of 35 pass attempts. In Week 3 against the Rams, he was targeted on 11 of 31 passes. Monday, it was eight of 24. In the only Bears loss, he was targeted just five times in 27 attempts.

What happens is that Marshall's influence opens up other receivers. It never works the other way around. Monday night when Devin Hester caught a 34-yard TD pass, it was the result of a play Marshall has run. Hester was able to put on a double move and get wide open.

"On that particular play, they collapsed on me because we've hit it so many times and it left Devin so wide open," Marshall said. "So now defensive coordinators and defensive guys, they have to pay attention to that."

Cutler believes Marshall will be targeted less in the future out of necessity, so the other receivers are going to need to produce as they did Monday.

“Week by week, teams are going to try to take B away and just make those other guys make plays," Cutler said. "I think the philosophy behind that is they’re going to bet that defensively they can cover those other guys and not let B beat them. That’s what we’re seeing a lot of.

"But we have a lot of belief in our guys, in Kellen, in Alshon and D-Hest and Matt Forte, all those guys we think can make plays.”
 
Follow Bears reporter Gene Chamberlain on Twitter @CBSBears.