Briggs: Time for defense to fight back

Lance Briggs thinks the Bears' beleaguered defense has taken about all the criticism it can stand, been pushed as far as it can go, and now it's time to stop the madness - or at least an opponents' passing game.

"The bottom line is it's just a stab at our pride; and how much can you take?" Briggs said. "We can handle the criticism outside. That's not a problem. But (it is a problem) within ourselves and being accountable and saying, 'You know what? I've had enough, and I'm tired of people scoring this much on our defense.'

"We don't point the finger, but let's start holding teams. Let's start putting it out there that we've had enough and we're ready to make a stand. That's kind of where we are. You back yourself into a wall, and we've done that, and now you've got to start fighting back."

With six games left, the Bears are in a three-way tie for first place in the NFC North and have no remaining games against teams that are above. 500. Briggs and the defense understand that now is the time for them to make their stand.

"We don't really have a choice," said Briggs, whose 88 tackles are tied for the team lead with safety Kevin Payne. "We've got to have a sense of urgency. I can't offer any solutions for what's going on with us except for the fact that it's us."

By allowing an average of 30.5 points and 376 yards over the past four games the Bears have slipped to 19th in yards and 21st in points allowed. It's finally starting to get to some people.

"If we want it bad enough, then people won't be scoring 37 points on us," Briggs said. "When teams run the ball at will, when they throw the ball all over us, it's not cute. It's not fun to see yourself on somebody else's highlight film. At some point we have to do something about it, or continue to be on other peoples' highlights."

Not that bad: Coach Lovie Smith doesn't believe keeping his team motivated after last week's pummeling by the Packers is too great a task.

"It's a big challenge anytime you lose a football game, but we're not in the gutter or anything like that," Smith said. "We're in first place in our division, and we didn't play well this past week. But we've done a lot of good things."

Injury update: Defensive tackle Tommie Harris and center Olin Kreutz returned to full practice Thursday after resting Wednesday, but wide receiver Marty Booker (knee), linebacker Darrell McClover (hamstring) and offensive tackle Fred Miller (shoulder) remained out.

Defensive tackle Marcus Harrison (ankle) and linebacker Nick Roach (ankle) were again limited, but linebacker Jamar Williams (neck) was full go after being limited a day earlier.

For the second straight day, practice was held inside the Walter Payton Center on artificial turf as preparation for Sunday's game at the Rams' Edward Jones Dome.