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Fred Miller stopped at his locker Thursday and picked up the brace he has been wearing on his right knee.
The Bears' 34-year-old right tackle has not missed a game because of an on-field injury since 1998, and he hopes to keep his run intact Sunday at Detroit despite missing practice again. Miller was one of six players to sit out, with the bulk of the problems on defense.
''This is nothing,'' he said. ''My last year in Tennessee [2004], you'd come in each Monday and find out we'd lost another player.'' Some weeks the Titans were lucky to lose only one. Miller was one of 23 players to have surgery during or immediately after the season. In his case, the Titans were going to shut him down before the season ended to operate on his right ankle. But injuries took such a toll on the offensive line -- all five starters wound up going under the knife -- he was asked to gut it out. Miller would go through the week without practicing, then give what he could on Sunday.

''I'd play as long as I could, probably two quarters, and say, 'I'm out,''' he said.
Tennessee lost 105 starts to injury that season, according to the Dallas Morning News' Rick Gosselin, who charts injury information leaguewide. The Titans, who plummeted from a 12-4 season in 2003 to 5-11, were the first team to reach triple digits this decade.
The Bears were hammered that year, too, losing 80 starts in Lovie Smith's first season. Three games into this season, they are down 30 -- free safety Mike Brown and defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek will miss 15 apiece -- and that figure will rise by at least two Sunday with cornerbacks Charles Tillman (right ankle) and Nathan Vasher (groin) out.
One of the primary reasons for the Bears' success last season was they lost only 26 starts, 10 by Brown. They were down only four at the end of their 7-0 start. Eleven of their 22 starters made all 16 starts. Compare that to 2004, when only six starters made it through the entire season and 10 players finished on injured reserve.
''We're not beat up that bad,'' Brian Urlacher said. ''Everyone has guys hurt.''
He's either trying to fool the Lions about who will be in uniform at Ford Field, or he hasn't stuck his head into the training room. In addition to Tillman and Vasher, linebacker Lance Briggs (hamstring) and defensive tackle Tommie Harris (left knee) have yet to practice this week.
The challenging part will be how the Bears line up in the secondary against the pass-happy Lions, who might play in four- and five-wide sets most of the game. Ricky Manning Jr. will start at one corner, and there is a strong possibility that Danieal Manning will move from free safety to cornerback. In that scenario, rookie Kevin Payne would start at free safety, and rookie Trumaine McBride would enter in the nickel package.
In nickel, Ricky Manning will move inside to cover the slot, where he is most comfortable. The Bears toyed with moving Danieal Manning to cornerback in the spring because of his coverage skills.
Ricky Manning started the final four games last season when Tillman and Vasher each missed two games, and the Bears surrendered their four highest passing-yardage totals of the season. Of course, Harris was out for those games, too.
Manning has said he wasn't prepared for the move outside last season but is more ready this time around.
''Of course you've got to get back and get comfortable [with] it because I haven't been playing outside the whole time,'' he said. ''But for me it's just refine the tools, not refine the position, but getting back to the outside techniques.''
The bottom line is whoever fills in needs to handle his responsibilities, and no one needs to try to be Superman. ''Then we'll really get screwed up,'' Urlacher said. ''Our defense is gap-sound. We've got to stay in our gaps, or we won't be successful. We've got to run through our gaps. Guys gotta do their own jobs. When you lose guys, you want to do more than you're supposed to do.''

Injuries will put Bears to the test against Lions