Smith discusses state of the Bears

Bears coach Lovie Smith doesn’t believe his team will be adversely affected by the NFL work stoppage — at least for a while.

Some teams would have already begun their off-season workouts if not for the lockout, but the Bears aren’t behind schedule.

“We normally don’t start up until after the owners’ meetings,” Smith told reporters at this week’s owners meetings in New Orleans. “It’s not like a lot would change right now.”

Unlike the eight NFL teams that have new coaches, the Bears will benefit from the continuity of having a coaching staff that has remained almost completely intact.

“It’s not like we’re a new staff coming in,” Smith said. “We do have some veterans on our football team. We feel pretty good about where we are.”

The longer it takes for a labor settlement, the more teams will struggle to catch up. But the Bears won’t have nearly as far to go as teams implementing new systems.

“We’re like everyone else, if it goes a long time, it would cause problems for us,” Smith said. “But right now, we’re OK. It’s not like we have a bunch of kindergartners that you have to tell them when to start working out (and) what’s coming up. They know what’s ahead of them. I feel pretty good they are doing what they need to do.”

Smith touched on several other team topics that remain unsettled and won’t be decided until well into the off-season program or even the end of training camp.

타 Improving the pass rush, which, despite the addition of Julius Peppers, accounted for just 34 sacks — 22 fewer than the Bears allowed.

“It starts with that for us,” Smith said. “Julius Peppers was outstanding. Izzy (Israel Idonije) made progress. I think getting a guy like Henry (Melton) more reps is going to help our pass rush. We lost Tommie Harris, a pass-rusher who has done a lot of good things for us. We still need to bring in at least one more defensive lineman. We’re not looking at run-stoppers. He has to be able to rush the passer.”

타 Devin Hester’s role as a wide receiver.#147;He didn#146;t get into the mix as much as he probably would have liked,#148; Smith said of Hester, whose production plummeted from 57 catches and 757 yards to 40 catches and 475 yards. #147;I liked what he was able to do in the return game. It#146;s hard sometimes balancing both of them. He#146;s a dangerous guy with his hands on the ball, and it#146;s up to us to try to find more ways to get him the football.#148;

Hester re-established himself as the NFL#146;s best return specialist with 3 punt-return touchdowns and a league-best 17.1-yard average. But his production as a returner seemed to increase at the expense of his contributions to the passing game.

#147;You can always make an argument for that,#148; Smith said. #147;I would like to see us find a way to get him the ball more in certain (passing) situations. That#146;s what we#146;re looking at more than (just) reps.#148;

타 The unresolved composition of the offensive line, which is considered the position in greatest need of improvement.

#147;We have a lot of players who have played a lot of different positions,#148; Smith said. #147;Chris Williams has been all over the offensive line. J#146;Marcus (Webb) has a little flexibility over whether he can play left or right (tackle). Frank Omiyale, the same thing. That#146;s an area we#146;ve said we#146;d like to improve. I like the improvement they made (last season). I like the job (offensive line coach) Mike (Tice) did with them from the start of the season throughout.#148;

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