August 14, 2007

A step ahead

2007 8-17: Wolfe in Bears 8-17: Tightends 8-16: 'Peanut' 8-16: Linebackers 8-15: D-Day 8-15: Madden '08 gets 8-15: Mannelly known 8-15: Cornerbacks 8-14: A step ahead 8-14: Offensive guards, 8-13: Benson has clear More

Team's progress pleasing to Smith

By Jimmy Street

sports@daily-journal.com

The Chicago Bears' quarterbacks combined to complete more than 70 percent of their passes in Saturday's 20-19 win over the Houston Texans, but on Monday night the offense wasn't as sharp.

While the passing game was lacking at times during the Bears' first practice since Saturday's preseason opener, Devin Hester continued to show that his transition to wide receiver is not an experiment that will fail.

Hester made several acrobatic catches in Monday's practice and offensive coordinator Ron Turner expressed how pleased he has been with the progress the explosive player is making in his conversion to a new position.

"He's progressing and picking everything up," said Turner. "I think he's getting more comfortable with the plays."

Despite the fact it appeared that the offense struggled at times on Monday, as all three quarterbacks made several errant throws, Turner wasn't upset with the performance.

"Actually, we made some plays tonight. We did a lot of good things at times," Turner said. "During the blitz period we had some things looking a little bit different, but other than that we hit some plays and looked OK."

Kyle Orton made several plays against the Texans on Saturday, as he completed 16 of his 25 passes for 151 yards and a touchdown, but the quarterback sat out Monday's practice with soreness in his knee.

Orton wasn't the only member of the team to sit out the practice Monday, as Jon Goldsberry, Olin Kreutz, Aaron Brant, Ruben Brown and Hunter Hillenmeyer were all out of action.

Head coach Lovie Smith attributed the players' absence to "general soreness," as he has throughout camp.

Smith is very pleased with the team's general progress to this point, and even went as far as to say that the squad is ahead of last year's pace.

"I felt our team was further along (during) the first game this year than they were last year," Smith said. "I like where we are."

Smith joked about the panic associated with the special teams' play during the preseason opener, but he assured reporters that the squad will continue to progress.

"I know you all are panicking about our special teams and all the other things, but that's normally how it is the first game," Smith said. "You're not Super Bowl ready. We're not, but we'll be better the second preseason game than the first, (and) we'll continue to practice the same way we always have."

Despite its shaky play on Saturday, the Bears' special teams unit was rock-solid last year, and Robbie Gould's two fourth quarter field goals on Saturday night helped get the squad back into a winning rhythm.

"It's fun to get in a rhythm," said Gould. "For us, it's great to get a win. We always want to win the game whenever they're keeping score and get some momentum going into the regular season. We've just got to get better from here on out."

Even after Gould's spectacular season landed him a spot on last year's NFC Pro Bowl roster, the kicker is still working hard to improve.

"You're always looking to get better," Gould said. "The biggest thing for me is, I need to not miss four kicks, or not miss any kicks at all. I'm getting better, and every day I'm just out here trying to get better."