Orton did not look like he'd be able to play in three days, but it also didn't appear that he'd be out a month, as some reports claimed last Sunday, shortly after he was injured just before halftime. It was also reported that the injury was a high ankle sprain, which normally take much longer to heal than the conventional "inversion" ankle sprain, where the ankle rolls outward and the foot turns inward.

"It was sore when I woke up Monday morning," said Orton, who described the injury simply as "an ankle sprain," without mentioning the severity or nature of the sprain. "I don't know the definition of a high ankle sprain or anything like that. I just know my ankle is sprained.

"(But) it's been a good couple days. I woke up Monday morning feeling better than I did on Sunday. I woke up (Wednesday) morning feeling better than I did (Tuesday). Hopefully I'll be able to give it a shot on Sunday."

That would be shocking, but it seems Orton has a chance to be back in the lineup against the Packers on Nov. 16 at Green Bay. When he spoke to the media, the four-year veteran wore only a small elastic wrap around his injured right ankle.

Bears coach Lovie Smith was, as always, coy when the topic is an injured player.

"(I'm) optimistic we'll have him back soon," Smith said. "Soon can mean a lot of things."

Asked for a definition of "soon," Smith elaborated without clarifying.

"Well, I have my definition of it," he said. "You can go a lot of different ways with 'soon.' Soon could be tomorrow, the next day, three weeks from there -- maybe at the end of the year."

As far as this week, Orton will spend much more time rehabbing than practicing, and he has not been given a timetable by the Bears' athletic trainers.

"It's week to week," Orton said. "I don't think you can put a time line on it. If it happens (this week), it happens, and it's great. If not, then we'll go to the Green Bay game, and I'll try to make it for that one."

Orton said he had no discomfort standing at the podium Wednesday.

But when asked what went through his mind at the instant he was injured, he said, "Ouch."

After he got off the ground, Orton tried to limp off the field only to collapse. He was removed on a motorized cart

"It hurt," he said. "I was trying to get off the field, but it just wasn't going to happen."

Rex Grossman, who lost out to Orton in a preseason battle for the No. 1 job, is expected to start Sunday for the first time since last Dec. 6, when he was sidelined for the remainder of the season by a sprained knee. Grossman took all the first-team reps during Wednesday's practice, while third-stringer Caleb Hanie ran the scout team.

"I'm not sure exactly what's going to happen," Grossman said, "but I'm preparing like I'm playing and going out there excited for the opportunity. If it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen, but I'm going in as if I'm playing, and (if not), I'll worry about that on Sunday."

Teammates hope for a speedy return by Orton, whose passer rating of 90.8 is 10th best in the NFL, but say they're confident Grossman, whose career passer rating entering this season was 70.9, can step in and perform well.

"Rex is a big luxury to have," said six-time Pro Bowl center Olin Kreutz. "He's a good quarterback. We've seen that around here a lot. In the NFL, you need two good quarterbacks, and we've got two."

Since Orton will get little if any work in practice this week, it's extremely doubtful he would come in cold Sunday to face one of the NFL's toughest defenses.

"It'd be tough," offensive coordinator Ron Turner said. "It's tough for anybody at any position to play if you don't practice -- quarterbacks especially."

Grossman didn't get any snaps with the first team last week before he relieved Orton, but he will get most, if not all, of this week's practice snaps.

"We feel great about Rex," Turner said. "I think every guy in that locker room does. We know what he can do. We've won with him in the past. He has been preparing very well through the eight games that he didn't start, and he stayed ready to go. We feel fortunate. We have two quarterbacks we can win with."

SERIES HISTORY: 10th regular-season meeting. Bears lead 5-4 but this is just the second game in 10 years. In the last meeting, in 2004, the Bears won 19-17 in overtime when DE Adewale Ogunleye forced a fumble by Titans QB Billy Volek and OT Fred Miller fell on it but was downed for a safety by Ogunleye. Miller signed with the Bears the following off-season and started 46 games over the next three years. He was waived after last season but re-signed Sept. 10 as a backup after rookie Chris Williams had back surgery.