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Bears will play Packers without Bennett

The Chicago Bears will be without their leading pass catcher against the Green Bay Packers.

Tight end Martellus Bennett, who has a team-best 50 receptions, is out with injured ribs that he suffered in Sunday's loss to the Broncos. Bennett is also tied for the team lead with 3 touchdown catches and is second with 425 receiving yards.

Benett has never missed a game in three seasons with the Bears and has missed just four in his eight-year career.

Wide receiver Eddie Royal (knee) will miss his fourth straight game and running back Ka'Deem Carey is out with a concussion from the Broncos game.

The Bears also list six players as questionable, including running back Matt Forte (knee), who says he's ready to go after missing three games, and wide receiver Alshon Jeffery (groin), who missed last week and four games earlier in the season.

Outside linebacker Pernell McPhee (knee), safety Antrel Rolle (knee), inside linebacker LaRoy Reynolds (knee) and safety Sherrod Martin (neck) are also questionable.

Peppers stays hot:

Packers outside linebacker Julius Peppers is in his 14th season, and though he turns 36 in January he continues to perform at an elite level.

In his last 14 games with the Packers, the ex-Bear has 11 sacks, including a team-best 6½ this season.

"I've always had such respect for him as a player and his ability when he was on the other side of the field," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "But now his presence and his leadership style is very unique. The locker room gravitates to him.

"He has just a calm way about himself. And when he does extend himself verbally, or you see the moments of him being outgoing, it's powerful and unique. So he's been a tremendous asset."

In his last season with the Bears (2013), Peppers had 7 sacks, and in his four years in Chicago, he had 37½ sacks.

Peppers has 132 career sacks, third among active players, behind ex-Bear Jared Allen (136), who was traded to the Panthers on Sept. 28, and DeMarcus Ware (133½).

Bears coach John Fox was the Panthers head coach when they drafted Peppers second overall in 2002.

"He's a tremendous teammate, a tremendous athlete," Fox said. "He's performed well wherever he's been."

The Packers have lined Peppers up in different spots as a pass rusher, as they have also done with Clay Matthews.

"He can (still) get around the edge," Fox said of the 6-foot-7, 287-pound Peppers. "He's strong enough to come up inside as a penetrating rusher. They have some unique talents on defense."

It all evens out:

The Packers snapped their three-game losing streak Sunday with an impressive 30-13 win over the Vikings in Minnesota by being more balanced.

"Our flow was much better, from top to bottom," coach Mike McCarthy said. "Just having the balance of running the football and throwing it. Our play distribution was definitely that of balance."

The Packers threw the ball 34 times against the Vikings, and they ran it 34 times for 124 yards. In their three-game skid, they averaged 19 rushes and 69.3 yards on the ground.

Just another game?

The Bears are 1-11 in their last 12 games against NFC North opponents, including the current six-game losing streak. They've also lost 10 of 11 to the Packers.

But coach John Fox isn't placing extra emphasis on beating Green Bay than any other division foe - or is he?

"They're all so hard to get," Fox said. "There's no cupcakes. Everybody is good. Obviously it's a division game, which we put a lot of stock in. It's a red-letter game for us, as I'm sure it is for them.

"It's a conference game, which we didn't get our first one of those till (Nov. 15 vs. the Ram). So we're in a situation where it's an important game regardless of who it's against."

Looking back:

As the Panthers' defensive coordinator from 1995-98, Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio crossed paths with former Packers quarterback Brett Favre, whose number will be retired Thursday.

"Luckily I didn't go against him a whole lot," said Fangio, who coached with AFC teams for most of Favre's career. "But (in 1997) he hammered a throw in there on the sideline between the corner and the safety that I don't think anyone else could've made. It was like a 40-yard laser."

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