Bears focus on their own challenges

Despite Buffalo's 0-7 record, the Bears aren't taking their next opponent lightly, especially since the Bills' last 2 losses were in overtime to the Baltimore Ravens (5-2) in Week 7 and the Kansas City Chiefs (5-2) on Sunday.

“Every team is dangerous. Throw those records out the window,” Bears defensive end Julius Peppers said. “We don't look at records; we look at players and we look at plays.

“More importantly, we focus on ourselves. We don't worry about our opponent as much. We take care of business on our side of the ball.”

The Bills have struggled on defense most of the season, allowing an NFL-worst 30 points per game, but they held the Chiefs to 13 points in five quarters.

“They changed up some things defensively this past week and really played well,” Bears coach Lovie Smith said of the Bills.

“On the offensive side of the ball, they've moved the ball throwing it, and they have good running backs. It's a big challenge for us this week.”

Since taking over at quarterback, the Bills' Ryan Fitzpatrick has a 91.1 passer rating, 10th best in the NFL and 7.0 points higher than Jay Cutler.

Room for improvement:

Defensive tackle Tommie Harris isn't happy with his performance this season, and he's not alone.

The three-time Pro Bowl player (2005-07) has just 6 tackles, no sacks and 1 quarterback pressure.

“I have to start playing better, and that's what I'm looking forward to,” Harris said. “And I think it could benefit the team a lot. The team could benefit a lot from me. That's all I'm focused on.

“I just know myself I haven't really produced this year. But last game I really was starting to feel better, was feeling great out there. So I look forward to just building on that, building on my strengths.”

Injury update:

Linebacker Lance Briggs (ankle) and guard Roberto Garza (knee) practiced Monday and are expected to play Sunday, although Wednesday is the first day that an official injury report is published.

“(Briggs) looked pretty good today,” coach Lovie Smith said. “It's good to get him back out on the field; (I) don't see any problems we should have the rest of the way.”

Rookie safety Major Wright is expected to play for the first time since suffering a hamstring injury early in Game 2.

“Every time you add a good football player it helps in a lot of ways, of course with special teams,” Smith said. “Major did some good things in the preseason. It seems like he's picking up right where he left off.”

Cornerback Zack Bowman (foot) and guard Edwin Williams (back) did not practice Monday, although Williams did some individual work on the side.