St. Louis ? Whenever Mike Martz comes back, the St. Louis Rams want him to return to a successful team.

Players insisted Thursday, the day the 2-3 team returned to practice in preparation for a Monday night game at Indianapolis, they wouldn’t allow the absence of their ailing head coach to be a distraction.

“You have to prepare just like it’s normal,” linebacker Brandon Chillar said. “No one else cares that we don’t have a head coach, that’s how the league is.

“We’re preparing to win. Like Joe Vitt said, you have no other choice.”

Vitt, an assistant head coach who spent three seasons as the Kansas City Chiefs’ linebackers coach, will be in charge. Offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild will call the plays until Martz returns from an indefinite leave for a bacterial infection of a heart valve that an initial round of antibiotics failed to cure. The 54-year-old Martz missed two practices last week but coached the team in a 37-31 loss to the Seahawks on Sunday before stepping aside.

St. Louis quarterback Marc Bulger fires a pass during practice. The Rams, without coach Mike Martz, who is ailing because of a bacterial infection in his heart, practiced Thursday in St. Louis. The Rams offense must play Indianapolis on Monday night without Martz calling the plays for the first time in Bulger's tenure with the team.

Team president John Shaw said earlier this week the coach would be hospitalized for four to 12 days. He’s expected to miss at least two games and could be out as many as six.

“Your first concern is for him,” Colts coach Tony Dungy said. “I know how coaches are, and anything that’s going to knock a coach out for more than a day is serious.

“Mike is a really good guy, a unique guy, and I just wish the best for him.”

Defensive end Tyoka Jackson said it was up to everyone to pick up the slack. And he means everyone.

“If you answer phones, do that better. If you tape ankles or sweep the floor, you do that better. If your job is to get to the quarterback, you do that better,” Jackson said. “Everybody does their job better than they’ve ever done it before, and we’ll be fine.”

The change might be toughest to take for quarterback Marc Bulger, who joined the Rams in 2000 and has worked under only Martz aside from two days last week when Vitt ran the team while Martz was getting treatment.

“All I know in the NFL is coach Martz calling plays,” Bulger said.

“I think Steve’s been with him long enough to know his philosophies. He’s taught him a lot about offense, so I’m sure Steve has picked that up and he’ll try his best to call like he’s learned from coach Martz.”