A bit rough for openers

Even before he was knocked out of the game with an injured right shoulder, it was an up-and-down night for backup quarterback Caleb Hanie in the Bears' 25-10 preseason-opening loss to the Chargers at San Diego.

Hanie was hurt in the third quarter on a play in which he was sacked and lost a fumble. He did not return but was able to raise both hands above his head and will be re-evaluated Sunday.

Before that, Hanie led a 15-play TD drive that put the Bears ahead 10-7 midway through the second quarter.

He missed a wide-open Devin Aromashodu early in the drive but later showed his ability to move in the pocket and buy extra time for his receivers.

The score came when Hanie rolled right and threw back toward the middle of the field, normally a no-no, but Aromashodu did a good job of staying between the defender and the ball in the end zone.

The plan was for Hanie to play through the third quarter, but the injury ended his night early. Offensive coordinator Mike Martz said before the game he wanted to see Hanie and No. 3 quarterback Dan LeFevour in action.

"I'm really anxious to see how both of them play under pressure," Martz said. "Neither one of them has a lot of experience."

Before leaving, Hanie showed his inexperience on the first series of the second half, when he was pressured and forced a pass intended for Aromashodu that was intercepted by Paul Oliver. That set up a Chargers field goal that put the home team up 17-10.

Hanie bounced back with a 47-yard completion to Aromashodu, who was able to catch an intermediate pass without breaking stride, slip a tackle and add another 30 yards after the catch.

"Nice catch and nice run," said linebacker Brian Urlacher who, by that time, was a sideline observer.

But two plays later Hanie was hurt, giving LeFevour extra playing time.

• The offense moved quickly downfield with its opening possession until a corner blitz by the Chargers' Donald Strickland. He blew past Matt Forte, who whiffed and allowed Jay Cutler to be sacked for a 6-yard loss.

That was it for Cutler, which seemed a little odd, considering he's learning to run a new offense under Martz. Smith had hinted that some starters might play until halftime.

"We're learning a new offense," Cutler said. "We wanted to get in and out of the huddle and get in a little bit of a rhythm. We definitely have to play more and get a little deeper into the first half."

Cutler finished 2-for-2 for 47 yards.

• On the down side, on San Diego's second possession with the starters from both teams still in, Legedu Naanee got behind the Bears' Zack Bowman for a 28-yard TD catch from Philip Rivers. Safety Chris Harris was late getting over.

"We can't give up the long pass," coach Lovie Smith said. "We had two big plays on the drive. Besides that I thought (the first-team defense) was decent."

• Special teams were uncharacteristically poor, allowing way too much kickoff-return yardage, and punter Brad Maynard had a punt blocked out the back of the end zone for a safety when Al Afalava whiffed while trying to block Brandon Lang.

Afalava redeemed himself early in the fourth quarter when he intercepted a pass by rookie third-string quarterback Jonathan Crompton at the Bears' 10, preventing the Chargers from padding their lead.

• The offensive line struggled all night to create running room. Midway through the fourth quarter, the Bears' longest run of the night was an 8-yard scramble by Hanie.

Pass protection was solid on Cutler's 2 passes, but he was sacked once, and backups Hanie and LeFevour frequently were pressured.