O-lineman Miller possibly will return to Bears

Even before the announcement that first-round pick Chris Williams had back surgery Wednesday night for a herniated disk, Bears coach Lovie Smith knew the offensive line situation was not ideal.

Williams, who was supposed to win the job at left tackle, will be out indefinitely. And Terrence Metcalf, who was the starting left guard, is out indefinitely after having arthroscopic knee surgery Tuesday.

"We're concerned," Smith said. "We have a few guys out. You would like to have everyone out there working, but it never works that way in training camp. You just have to realize that's a part of it. Eventually we'll get our players back, and we can't wait."

The Bears have already talked with the agent for Fred Miller, their right tackle from 2005-07. He was previously released to clear room under the salary cap.

Miller is also drawing interest from the Texans and Ravens, but if the money is even close, Miller will be back with the Bears. He and his family still live in the North suburbs.

That would probably mean John Tait switches back to left tackle, where he started the previous three seasons before taking over Miller's spot in the off-season.

"I've played it before," Tait said of the left side. "The coaches make the decisions, so whatever the coaches say, they're the boss."

Tait played left tackle his first three seasons in the NFL with the Chiefs (1999-2001), then played three seasons at right tackle, two with the Chiefs and his first season in Chicago. He downplayed the difficulty of the switch.

"I think it would be tougher to do in Week 8 of the regular season than to do it now," Tait said.

In that scenario, John St. Clair, who has been the starter at left tackle since Tait moved to the right, would likely slide inside to Metcalf's spot at left guard.

Miller had ankle surgery in January but, according to his agent, Harold Lewis, feels better than he has in three years and has been working out at home.

Slow start: The Bears defense, supposedly the strength of the team, didn't live up to expectations at the start of Thursday night's preseason opener.

The unheralded Kansas City offense took the opening kickoff and sliced through the Bears for 81 yards on 16 plays and a 7-0 lead.

"I was not pleased with the opening drive," coach Lovie Smith said. "Our defense cannot allow that to happen. We had them in some third-and-long situations, and we let them out."

The Chiefs converted on all five of their third-down opportunities, including a third-and-10, a third-and-15, and Larry Johnson's 5-yard TD run on third down.

"That won't happen to us a lot this year," Smith promised. "We'll learn from that. We are better than that. I thought after that, we settled down and did some good things."

The Chiefs had 179 yards of total offense in the first half, during which Bears' defensive starters played all but the final series.

Fast start: Garrett Wolfe's 64 rushing yards (on 7 carries) Thursday night, including a 42-yard jaunt, more than doubled anyone else in the game, and he also caught a 25-yard TD pass.

"Being (my) second year, you feel much more comfortable," Wolfe said. "I'm allowing my natural ability to take over, and my natural ability is a pretty good ability."

Wolfe also had a productive preseason as a rookie last year, leading the Bears in rushing yards and receptions.

But in the regular season he carried the ball just 31 times for a 2.7-yard average and caught 9 passes, although he averaged 13.0 yards per catch.

The NIU product hopes to be more involved in the offense this season, and his Thursday night production should help.

"I'm very satisfied," the 5-foot-7 Wolfe said. "That's something I wanted to do - come out and be productive and be competitive and not only show my coaches and my teammates that but show the fans that."