Brandon Marshall: Playoffs a ‘miracle’ shot, but Bears focused

Mathematically, the Bears haven’t been eliminated from playoff contention, Brandon Marshall said, before conceding the obvious.

“It’s a long shot,” the wide receiver said Sunday at Halas Hall. “It may even take a miracle. You still got to continue to play for that.

“But it is our job. But for me and just like everyone else in Chicago, we want to win. It’s just tough right now for us to be in the position we’re in right now — maybe or maybe not playing for something, I don’t know.”

The league “will expose those who don’t want to be here,” said defensive end Jared Allen.

“If it was me and guys started slipping, I’d just get rid of them,” he said. “All I do is go out and work.

“We have great character here. We had a great practice (Sunday). Enthusiasm on both sides of the ball.”

Marshall said he’s tuning out the losses and thinking about Thursday’s game.

“If you continue to think about those things, it definitely affects you in a negative way,” he said. “So I’m on to Dallas, and that’s where my focus is.”

Allen’s weight back

After played all 73 snaps Thursday, Allen revealed Sunday he didn’t get back to his playing weight until after the bye week. He lost 15 pounds in late September after contracting pneumonia.

“It’s nice being normal D-line-sized again, versus playing at linebacker size,” he said. “I feel good.”

Allen said he was comfortable playing every snap, made necessary when backup Cornelius Washington left with a chest injury.

This and that

• Bears coach Marc Trestman wouldn’t offer an update on cornerback Tim Jennings, who injured his groin Thursday, or Chris Conte, who left the game with what the team first called a possible concussion but later clarified to be an eye injury.

“We’ll put an injury report out (Monday) with everything on it,” he said.

• Defensive end Willie Young said he’d yet to hear from the NFL about whether he would be fined for Thursday’s roughing the passer penalty.

Email: pfinley@suntimes.com

Twitter: @patrickfinley