The Cincinnati Bengals moved practice to the University of Cincinnati’s indoor bubble Wednesday to escape the snow and freezing rain.

“It was awesome,” said linebacker Rey Maualuga, a Southern California native. “But at the same time, it felt colder last week practicing out in the rain than it felt outside today. It felt good to be in the bubble and practice fast and just to be warm and stay comfortable.”

The Bengals remain the northernmost NFL franchise without an indoor practice facility. In 2009 they moved operations to Wall2Wall Soccer, an indoor facility in Mason, on multiple occasions, but they had not practiced indoors since, even though UC opened its bubble in 2010.

Inclement weather led quarterback Andy Dalton to miss practice the week of the wildcard playoff game against Houston last year, and the lack of an indoor facility remains a sore spot with some players.

Offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth said Wednesday’s seven-mile trip to Clifton was a productive one.

“It’s nice to go inside and throw the football and run the football and make cuts and do all of those things without having to worry about falling down in the ice and the wind,” Whitworth said. “You’re trying to work on looks and everything, it’s hard to get the speed of the looks when everybody’s worried about their footing and the conditions we’re in.

“You want to stay off the ground this late in the year, and it’s kind of hard to do when it’s wet and nasty outside,” he continued. “It’s better to be dry and inside. It’s good for us to go in there and get a sweat in and fly around.”

Dre done: While Dre Kirkpatrick’s rookie season wasn’t what he or the Bengals had anticipated, head coach Marvin Lewis said he was encouraged by the limited looks the cornerback got before being placed on season-ending injured reserve on Tuesday.

“I think he’ll have a fine career,” Lewis said. “He’s got the mental toughness, he’s got the physical ability, he can learn. There’s a lot of positives we got over the five, six weeks from the bye week, when he had an opportunity to practice and play in some games and kind of get his feet wet.”

The Bengals selected Kirkpatrick with the 17^th overall pick – the one they got from the Raiders in the Carson Palmer trade – but he suffered a knee injury prior to training camp and didn’t make his season debut until Nov. 4.

Kirkpatrick played in five games before suffering a concussion Dec. 2 in San Diego. He returned to practice last week, but symptoms from the concussion returned the next day, leading the team to place him on IR.

“It’s disappointing for him, but he learned a lot this year,” Lewis said. “Another thing I know is he wants to be very, very good, and he has that kind of drive internally, which is good.”

Sanzenbacher happy: The Bengals claimed Dane Sanzenbacher off waivers Tuesday after he was released by the Chicago Bears.

“Christmas eve I was released and got here on Christmas night,” Sanzenbacher said. “It was as quick as it could be. I didn’t see it playing out like this, but I’m happy to be here obviously.

“My family was in town, but it was like, ‘Sorry guys. This is the career path I chose,’ ” he added. “I left (Chicago) around 7 and got in about 2 a.m. (Wednesday).”

Sanzenbacher played in all 16 games as a rookie in 2011 and had 27 catches for 276 yards and three touchdowns. But he appeared in just four games this season with one catch for 7 yards.