LeGere: Sitting around no fun for Briggs

Lance Briggs is unaccustomed to being idle during the football season.

He missed just four games in his first 10 seasons, seven of which ended with Pro Bowl berths. But Briggs missed seven games last season with a fractured shoulder and three more after suffering injured ribs in the Oct. 5 loss to the Panthers.

"Shoot, I don't know what to do with myself sometimes," Briggs said after returning to full practice last week. "Sometimes I sit in meetings while coaches are talking and sometimes the words kind of just phase out and I'm staring at the screen. The only thing I can tell is the time, and I'll look up at the screen and be like 'Dang, still got 55 minutes left.' It's just been different. More coaching."

Briggs will return to action at Lambeau Field, which he admitted earlier in the week could be his last visit as a Bear, since he will be a free agent after the season. But Briggs has created some fond memories at the Packers' home.

"I scored my first touchdown at Lambeau - back in '03 with (former Packers QB) Brett Favre," Briggs said of his 45-yard interception return. "That's very, very memorable. I remember (Favre) just hurling the ball up into the air. It felt like it was in the air forever and I was just saying, 'Lance, please don't drop this.' It was fun. I've had great battles at Lambeau - really, really great battles, and I'll never forget it."

Fast Teddy:

Cornerback Teddy Williams, who has appeared in four games on special teams, doesn't have an impressive NFL resume. Before this year he spent time on three different practice squads and played in a total of 10 games with 1 catch for 51 yards (he's also played wide receiver).

But Williams' accomplishments are impressive considering he never played college football. He was a four-time track all-American at Texas-San Antonio, where his 9.90-second 100 meters in his junior season was the fastest in the world. But Williams is not just a track guy playing football, according to special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis, who noticed his elite speed but much more.

"For not playing football in college, he's tough," DeCamillis said. "He's got a real toughness to him. He puts his head in there, his face in there and does some things that aren't natural sometimes. That's the thing you like about him, plus his attitude, the way he goes about trying to get better."

Next man up:

Against the Patriots, guard-tackle Eben Britton played 24 of 69 offensive snaps as the Bears at times line up with six offensive linemen.

But Britton won't play vs. the Packers after having his appendix removed during the bye week. His absence will give rookie Charles Leno his first NFL snaps.

"Charles will be in a position to handle that, so we'll move him into that position," coach Marc Trestman said of the seventh-round pick from Boise State. "He'll be up (on the 46-man active roster), so that shouldn't take away some of things that we're doing in that regard."