Hanie, LeFevour finally get some work

BOURBONNAIS - With quarterback Jay Cutler dressed but essentially taking the day off in a planned move for him to rest his arm, backup Caleb Hanie and No. 3 Dan LeFevour got a heavy dose of reps during Monday afternoon's sweltering workout.

"Jay's throwing the ball quite a bit," said Bears coach Lovie Smith. "But you really need to see some of the other players. We wanted to see Caleb work with the ones a little bit and get a look at LeFevour with a little bit of extended time."

Hanie, who's in his third season out of Colorado State but has played in just two games and completed 3 of 7 passes, said learning the new offense has taken a lot of study time and made for some major adjustments - not the least of which is sometimes throwing to a spot on the field before the receiver is even looking for the ball.

"I saw it on tape (of the Rams) and saw the success and I liked it," Hanie said of coordinator Mike Martz's system. "But it looks a lot easier on tape than when you get on the field and try to do it. Those guys make it look easy. That's what you want to strive to make it look like, too."

LeFevour has spent a lot of time working on his mechanics. But as the third quarterback, he hadn't gotten many reps until Monday.

"I definitely was a little nervous on my first day of getting extended reps," he said. "You've just got to do as much as you can with what you get."

Back in the race: After a slow start Sunday night in his first practice since suffering a quadriceps injury on Aug. 1, wide receiver Juaquin Iglesias made a couple of nice touchdown catches to get back in the running for a backup spot behind Devin Hester, Johnny Knox and Devin Aromashodu.

"One, two and three, receiver-wise, we have a good idea who they'll be," Lovie Smith said. "But those next positions are important, and when you get the opportunity, it's like we keep telling players, 'You keep working hard, eventually you're going to get a chance to prove what you can do.' Juaquin, coming back from an injury, showed up, and that's what you need to do."

Injury update: Wide receivers Devin Hester (leg soreness), Earl Bennett (hamstring) and Antonio Robinson (shin); cornerback Zack Bowman (knee), safeties Josh Bullocks (quad) and Danieal Manning (hamstring), running backs Brandon Minor (knee) and Harvey Unga (hamstring), linebackers Nick Roach (knee) and Brian Iwuh (knee) and center Tim Walter (knee) all missed practice.

Coming and going: Defensive tackle Averill Spicer was waived/injured and defensive tackle Mick Williams was signed.

Williams was an undrafted free agent this season with the Jets out of the Pitt. He was the 2009 Big East co-defensive player of the year with 17 tackles for losses, 5 sacks and 3 forced fumbles.