Bears’ Garza accepts new role, more leadership

BOURBONNAIS — At least for now, Roberto Garza has taken over for Olin Kreutz at center.

That is likely to change when Chris Spencer is up to speed in the offense and assumes the center position. But even if Garza moves back to right guard, the 11-year veteran will retain the leadership role that Kreutz handled for so long.

“Olin has always been the guy, and I’ve always sat back and watched what he’s done,” said Garza, who played next to Kreutz for seven years.

“I’m trying to do things the way he’s done by always trying to make the guys around you better. He played so much football and had so much knowledge.

“Luckily for me, I got a chance to play with him and learn from him. And now it’s the time for me to share that knowledge and share everything that he taught me and try to continue his leadership role on the offensive line.”

At center, the 32-year-old Garza also is required to make all the blocking calls and adjustments on the line.

“At guard I was spoiled,” he said. “Olin did everything. So now it’s on my shoulders to go out there and get everybody squared away.

“It’s a learning process. I have to go out there and continue to learn and continue to see some of the looks at center that I haven’t seen playing guard.”

Standing pat: Consider it a vote of confidence for the cornerbacks already on the roster that the Bears decided to take a pass on free-agent corner Kelvin Hayden.Charles Tillman and Tim Jennings are the starters, but Zack Bowman is battling to regain the job that Jennings won from him early last season.Bowman is 5 inches taller and 11 pounds heavier than the 5-8, 185-pound Jennings, and bigger is usually better at cornerback.But there are more important aspects of the job.#147;To play cornerback for us, you have to be able to tackle,#148; coach Lovie Smith said. #147;You need to be physical. Tim is that. He#146;s a competitor. Charles Tillman is the same.#147;All of our guys are like that. They know that if you#146;re going to be Monsters of the Midway all 11 guys have to be able to tackle and be physical, and all of our DBs can do that. #147;But you notice DBs based on them getting interceptions, and we have to continue to take the ball away.#148;Unique situation:The coaching staff has discussed at length how playing time for starters in the preseason should be handled, considering the absence of any off-season programs.#147;We haven#146;t come to a complete conclusion yet, but we have talked about playing them a little bit more,#148; coach Lovie Smith said.#147;But our core group, (the guys) that we know about, maybe not a lot more (playing time) from them. Some of the other players we need to get a look at, (players) we haven#146;t seen in a full-speed environment, maybe we need to see a little bit more from them.#148;