CHICAGO -- Mike Ditka and other former pro football players kept up their attack on the NFL Players Association on Thursday.

Led by the Hall of Famer, they again criticized the union for what they claim is a strategy to discredit disabled retired players trying to get disability benefits.

"These people got in front of Congress and lied, actually lied to Congress and said, 'We're going to try to fix this system,"' Ditka said at a news conference, referring to last month's appearance before Congress by players association executive director Gene Upshaw.

At the hearing, Upshaw asked Congress for greater authority to improve disability claims, saying the union is now limited in what it can do.

But then, said Ditka, "Two weeks after being in front of Congress they come out and they attack the individuals."

The NFL Players Association recently posted on its Web site a page titled "The NFLPA Truth Squad: Facts vs. Fiction" that explains it will ''correct serious misstatements of fact." The union identifies former players and disputes some of the statements they have made that have been reported in the media.

On Thursday, union spokesman Carl Francis defended the page, saying via e-mail: "While the NFLPA would prefer not discuss any individual cases, when a player makes false or misleading statements about the facts of his case, we believe the NFLPA has no other option but to respond and correct the record."

Ditka, a Hall of Fame player and former coach of the Bears and Saints, said the "Truth Squad" is part of a union effort to avoid paying for disability benefits that former players deserve.

"If the NFL and the players association don't have the courage to do the right thing to fix this system, I really believe it is the responsibility and obligation of Congress to step in and tell them to do it," Ditka said Thursday.

At Thursday's news conference, former players recounted how they suffered crippling injuries, underwent multiple surgeries and now live with excruciating pain.

"I've had seven spine surgeries, I need a hip replacement, I fall asleep during the day, I suffer from vertigo and have a memory problem," said Dave Pear, who said he's been told he doesn't qualify for disability.

Ditka said he wants a panel of medical experts established "that can evaluate honestly and fairly whether these men are disabled or not."

Gridiron Greats also announced that, in response to the union's "Truth Squad," it has created a section on its own Web site, gridirongreats.org, in which former players can log on and tell of their own efforts to obtain disability benefits from the union and post documents that support those efforts.

Bears' Briggs pleads guilty to leaving scene after crashing car: At Skokie, Ill., Chicago Bears linebacker Lance Briggs will be under court supervision for a year and must perform 120 hours in community service after crashing his Lamborghini alongside an expressway and leaving the scene.

Briggs pleaded guilty Thursday to leaving the scene of a property damage accident, a misdemeanor, and failure to report an accident, which is punishable by a fine. He has lost control of his $350,000 car in Chicago in the early morning hours of Aug. 27.

The Pro Bowl player spoke little in court except to say he understood the consequences of pleading guilty and to thank Cook County Judge Earl Hoffenberg, who also fined him $485.

Hoffenberg told Briggs he wants the community service to be in youth education, with a focus on encouraging young people to drive safely, because "I think they will pay a lot of attention to what you have to say."

Briggs declined to talk to reporters outside court, where he signed several autographs for fans.

Defense attorney Frank Himel later said he was pleased with the outcome.

"The judge was more than fair, more than fair," Himel said.

Prosecutors agreed to the plea agreement during a private conference with the judge and Himel, who said in court his client was taking "responsibility for one night of poor decision-making."

Briggs was driving his 2007 black Lamborghini Murcielago at a high speed when he hit a concrete embankment, spun out and ended up on the other side of the guard rail in a grassy median -- in the opposite direction he was traveling, authorities said. No one was injured.

Had the case gone to trial, prosecutors said, an Illinois State Trooper would have testified about arriving at the accident scene at about 3:20 a.m. to find Briggs' car abandoned with extensive damage. At about 5 a.m. a colleague told the trooper Briggs had called in saying he was at his Northbrook home and could talk about the accident. But when the trooper knocked on the door, at both 6 a.m. and 6:30 a.m., no one answered, Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Rick Cenar said in court.

Twelve hours passed after the accident before Briggs, accompanied by an attorney, turned himself in to authorities, Cenar said.

Cenar also told the judge that Briggs called 911 at 3:39 a.m. to report his Lamborghini had been stolen. The linebacker told reporters about that call the day after the accident.

Union attorney say Falcons don't have right to recoup bonus money paid to Vick: NFL Players Association lawyers argued Thursday that the league's collective bargaining agreement protects Michael Vick from the Atlanta Falcons' attempts to be refunded up to $22 million in bonus money.

A decision is expected by Oct. 12, said Stephen B. Burbank, the University of Pennsylvania law professor and special master who led the arbitration hearing. The Falcons argued the suspended Falcons quarterback knew he was in violation of the contract when he signed the $130 million deal in December 2004, and that he used proceeds from the deal to fund his dogfighting operation. New York-based attorney Jeffrey Kessler, who represented Vick and the NFLPA, countered that the CBA extension agreed to last year prevents forfeiture of bonus money even if the player contract says otherwise, union spokesman Carl Francis said.