Running back Anthony Thomas and left tackle Blake Brockermeyer did not practice Thursday. Brockermeyer is expected to play Sunday against Minnesota despite a bad knee, but Thomas remains 50-50.
“We are banged up a little bit on offense,” said coordinator John Shoop. “We play a physical brand of football on offense, and this is the time of year our guys are getting banged up.”
If Thomas cannot play or is limited by his hamstring, the extra work will go to James Allen, a different style of runner from the more physical Thomas. But the offense will remain the same.
“There’s a few things that we do,” Shoop said. “Our offense doesn’t change from week to week or from guy to guy. We do what we do every single week and we’re getting better at it.
“One of the things that we firmly believe is doing the same things. We window-dress things with different formations. We may not have run the same formation twice this entire year. But I think what you’ll find by the end of this stretch is we’re getting pretty good.”
Sound thinking: The Bears have practiced this week with loudspeakers placed all around the field blaring crowd noise when the offense is running plays. The purpose is to become acclimated to the problems that the decibel level in the Metrodome will cause.
“It’s giving everybody a headache and the defensive coaches are sick of it,” Shoop said.
The good news is that in two days of practice with the roaring background, the offense has committed only one false-start penalty. Shoop said the offense will use silent counts at the line to minimize the problems the noise will pose for play-calling.
Good hands: Tight end Fred Baxter is doing extra work after practice with coach Pat Flaherty to rehab a couple of broken fingers on his right hand. Baxter and Flaherty run parallel paths about 5 yards apart, Flaherty underhands spirals to Baxter and Baxter must catch them only with his right hand and only on the point of the ball, the focus point for receivers catching a football.
