One thing is certain: Bears have plenty of doubters

One thing the Bears will not be burdened by this season is great expectations.

Fans, media and run-of-the-mill bystanders are adjusting their sights downward when they look ahead to Lovie Smith's seventh season in Chicago. That's understandable given last year's 7-9 season and this year's 0-4 preseason.

"That's kind of the mentality out there right now," quarterback Jay Cutler said. "Everyone is a little bit down on us, a little bit disappointed (in) last year, and then preseason wise. Offensively we haven't been as high flying as we were predicted to be. That's fine. Under the radar isn't a bad thing."

The Bears aren't even on most radars when it comes to talk of the postseason, but that matters little in their locker room. Players insist they're not motivated by the lack of respect or their record in the preseason because they don't put much stock in either.

"We don't really pay a lot of attention to the record as much in the preseason," defensive end Julius Peppers said. "We were just trying to get better in different phases of the game. Right now everybody is 0-0. That's the reality of it. There's no added pressure or any chip (on our shoulders) from anything that happened in the preseason. This is a fresh start as far as we're concerned."

The Bears were 2-2 in the preseason before they went to Super Bowl XLI, and they were 3-1 last year and in 2007, but they finished 7-9 both years. So, any lack of faith that comes from a mundane preseason is not shared by the players.

"The preseason was the preseason," cornerback Zack Bowman said. "Those games don't count. Obviously the season is here and these games do (count). We're like, 'It's all opinion.' We can't worry about what other people think about us. We know inside this locker room we're a good team. So we're going to go out there and prove it."

The prejudging, good or bad, is just part of the deal, according to coach Lovie Smith, who pointed out that the New Orleans Saints came off an 8-8 year when they won the Super Bowl last season.

"That's what you do in the preseason; that's what you do in the off-season," Smith said of the prognostications. "You have a lot of experts; we're all experts based on what we think. I guess that matters before you play. But once you get to game week, it really doesn't matter. You can't really tell what a team will do."

Cutler said gloomy predictions by outsiders have no bearing on what will happen Sunday at Soldier Field against the Detroit Lions.

"It is what it is," the quarterback said. "You can't get caught up in that. You can't get distracted by what anybody is saying no matter how good it is or how bad it is."

While Peppers is considered by many as a solution to some of the problems that plagued the Bears last season, Cutler is looked at by some as part of the problem, considering he threw a league-high 26 interceptions to offset his 27 TD passes.

"Last year I took a hit obviously," Cutler said. "I had a little step-down there. I'm growing. Every experience you learn more and more. I'm excited about this year."

The next step is getting the doubters to believe.

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