Bears Notes: Marshall, Jeffery, Slauson, Garza Miss Practice
(CBS) Bears starting receivers Brandon Marshall (ankle) and Alshon Jeffery (hamstring) and starting offensive linemen Roberto Garza (high ankle sprain) and Matt Slauson (high ankle sprain) were all held out of Wednesday's practice ahead Chicago's game at San Francisco on Sunday night.
Bears coach Marc Trestman called Marshall and Jeffery "day-to-day." The fear is that the injuries for Garza and Slauson could take longer to heal.
"We'll see where they are tomorrow," Trestman said, adding he knew nothing more than they had ankle injuries.
On Tuesday, the Bears signed guard/tackle Eben Britton for depth on the offensive line. Brian de la Puente took over for Garza at center last Sunday against the Bills, and Michael Ola replaced Slauson.
Fullback Tony Fiametta (hamstring) and reserve quarterback David Fales (right shoulder) also were held out of practice Wednesday. That came as little surprise, as both were inactive for lsat Sunday's game.
Briggs brushes off questions about off-field behavior
In the wake of a report here on 670 The Score that he partied into the wee hours of Saturday morning ahead of last weekend's Sunday loss to the Bills, Bears linebacker Lance Briggs shot down the idea that his off-the-field behavior had anything to do with what many viewed as a subpar on-the-field performance.
On Tuesday, he chided the media for getting into his business, and he had a similar refrain Wednesday.
"I don't think you know what I do every day," Briggs said. "I don't think you have any idea. I'm here early every day. I'm here, I get a lot of treatment on my body. I'm here to work out in the middle of the day. This is not necessarily anybody's business. After practice I'm getting treatment and I do an additional workout after I leave this building to get my body ready.
"There's a lot of people that can't do what we do. There's a lot of people that couldn't put their bodies through what we do, period. Let alone go through what we did starting at probably grade school, junior high school, high school and continuing through college. My day started at about 6 in the morning and ended about 10 every day. So there aren't a lot of people who could've done that period."
Bears will keep the rotation at safety
Last Sunday, the Bears deployed a three-man rotation - Ryan Mundy, Chris Conte and Danny McCray - at safety, and they anticipate doing the same this Sunday.
"We're going to still stay with that," Trestman said. "Chris and Ryan are going to get a brunt of the work. We rotated Danny, and Danny played well when he was in there. So there will be times that we continue to move them around."
Defensive coordinator Mel Tucker echoed this approach.
"We don't foresee any type of changes in our lineup, Tucker said. "As the game plan unfolds and we settle upon whatever packages we want to play, they we'll know a little bit more at the end of the week. We feel good about the guys they had, how much play time they got, what they did."
Against the Bills, Mundy played all 58 defensive snaps, Conte played 47 and McCray played 11.