Smith hedges about future of assistant coaches

Lovie Smith was noncommittal when asked about the future of his assistant coaches Monday afternoon, offering neither votes of confidence nor criticisms.

"We'll evaluate everything," Smith said. "Players, coaches and all. Every year there's change. I don't know if we'll have change right now. I can't comment on any of that right now. We've just started our evaluation process."

Rod Marinelli's Monday firing as the Lions' head coach makes him a logical person of interest for Smith, who was the linebackers coach in Tampa for five years under Tony Dungy while Marinelli was the defensive line coach. Marinelli was considered a candidate to become the Bears' defensive coordinator when Smith was hired as head coach in 2004 and again in 2006 before he got the Lions' top job.

The Bears' once-stout defense has faltered under coordinator Bob Babich, who was promoted from linebackers coach after defensive coordinator Ron Rivera was not rehired following Super Bowl XLI. The defensive line has also come under criticism the past two seasons under the guidance of Brick Haley, who had no NFL coaching experience when he was hired by Smith in 2007.

"Rod Marinelli is an excellent football coach," Smith said. "I've known him for a long time. I've worked with him. But again, that doesn't have anything to do with what we're doing right now. I was just sad to see an excellent football coach not be the coach of Detroit."

Future looks bright: First-round pick Chris Williams suffered a back injury on the second day of training camp that eventually required surgery, and he missed the first seven games and played tiny roles in the final nine. But the offensive tackle is a big part of the Bears' future, according to Lovie Smith.

"We drafted Chris Williams to be our left tackle," Smith said. "There is no reason to think that Chris can't develop into that. The next time we come together as a team, he'll be ready to go. From what I saw of him going against our starting defensive ends, he's got a bright future ahead of him."

Personnel moves: The Bears signed offensive tackle Cody Balogh, wide receivers John Broussard and Rudy Burgess, defensive end Joe Clermond, TE Fontel Mines, guard Tyler Reed and linebacker Marcus Riley to reserve/future contracts Monday. All seven were on the practice squad this season.