CHICAGO - It was the best of times. It was the . . . well, you know.

Joe Mays came home and came up short.

Last night, Mays played his first significant minutes at the middle-linebacker position the Eagles have been trying to give him for weeks.

He didn't start at middle linebacker - that honor went to veteran Jeremiah Trotter - but Mays did play almost the whole first half. He helped stop Matt Forte for 2 yards on his second play on his second play, and dropped him for a 1-yard loss on his fourth play . . . his only tackle of the night.

That was the best of times, in front of his Hyde Park High pals, who saw him play 15 minutes down Lake Shore Drive, who rejoiced when he was a sixth-round pick last year, who held out (unfulfilled) hope that Mays might play decent minutes as a rookie.

That didn't happen until last night.

"It felt good just to get out and play a game," said Mays, a special-teams specialist to this point. "The game is definitely starting to slow down."

That might be true, but that might not matter, because he might not play again for a while.

Because, after that first series, Mays' night got worse fast.

Early in the second quarter, Bears guard Josh Beekman cleared Mays out on a 72-yard run that led to the Bears' second field goal.

That was the worst of times for Mays.

"It was a miscommunication. We had been playing two totally different defenses," Mays said. "That can happen, when they're going no-huddle."

It wasn't Mays' only miscue.

Like many middle linebackers with little experience, Mays overpursued, looked baffled in coverage and, after getting burned by his mistakes a few times, became relatively passive. Unlike many young middle linebackers, the Eagles don't really have time to let him learn.

Mays finished the first half, and even got some time in two-linebacker, nickel situations, but the first half was pretty much it.

Trotter replaced him in the second half.

"I thought the defense needed some juice," said defensive coordinator Sean McDermott, who called Mays' night "workmanlike."

He was more expressive in regard to Trotter, who finished with four tackles.

"He's a lion in there," McDermott said. "We liked our matchup inside."

Trotter roared into the backfield and dropped Forte for no gain on the defense's first play of the night. He then dusted off the Axeman Chop, his signature move back in the first half of the decade, when he went to four Pro Bowls.

He hadn't used it, he said, "since I left the Eagles."

That was after the 2007 season. He spent 2008 in Tampa and did not play anywhere last year.

So, despite sporadic inclusion in six other games, last night was big for him, too. He knew it was coming.

"I just had a feeling I was going to play more," Trotter said.

Mays did, too. Now, he might never be heard from again.

He was given the chance, to be sure.

Finally.

Promising starter Stewart Bradley was lost for the season to a knee injury. Mays subsequently was, essentially, given the starting job in training camp . . . which he quickly lost to Omar Gaither.

Gaither played poorly enough through the first three games to convince the Eagles to sign Trotter out of involuntary retirement. Gaither then was lost for the season after Week 5 with a foot injury.

That prompted the Birds to trade a rookie receiver and a fifth-round pick in 2010 to the Rams for Will Witherspoon, a light, quick, effective middle linebacker who played there until weakside linebacker Akeem Jordan hurt his knee three games ago.

So, last week, Witherspoon was moved to the weak side. The Eagles put Moise Fokou in the lineup and strong side linebacker Chris Gocong in the middle.

Um . . . no.

This week, it was Mays.

Next week . . . who knows?

Maybe Jordon will return and Witherspoon will move back inside.

Maybe Trotter played well enough to justify another start.

Maybe Mays will get another shot.

Maybe not.

That's fine by Mays.

"I'm blessed to play this game at all," he said. "We won. That overtakes playing sometimes."