Smith all smiles as Bears open camp

BOURBONNAIS -- Lovie Smith's glass is always half-full, but this year it's overflowing.

Ever the optimist, even in bad times, Smith had a lot to be positive about as players trickled into Olivet Nazarene University for the start of training camp Thursday afternoon. There are no contract distractions, no injury concerns and, even though recently signed Pro Bowl linebacker Lance Briggs isn't in camp yet, he will be by the end of the weekend.

"That is the way camp is supposed to start, when you're talking about football and guys getting better," Smith said. "This is different. It seems like every year I have been here something has been up not related to guys on the football field. This is new, and I like it a lot."

The Bears' only focus is a return to the Super Bowl and getting a different outcome.

"You get to camp a lot of times (and) you're trying to figure out who can play and who should be at what position," Smith said. "We are beyond most of those. We know where the guys will play. We know who can play. It's just about improving our football team, and that's what we're going to talk to our team about -- all of us taking another step and improving just a little bit so we can have different results from (last) season."

Just like last year, when he and running back Thomas Jones boycotted optional off-season activities, Briggs will start training camp playing with the backups. And just like last year, it won't be long before he's back with the starters.

Smith isn't happy Briggs stayed away all off-season in response to being designated the team's franchise player, which kept him out of the free-agent market and bound him to the Bears for the 2007 season at $7.2 million. The bottom line, however, is that Briggs is a standout player, and missing non-contact spring practices doesn't change that.

"It's not good when a player isn't here for the off-season program," Smith said. "We put a big emphasis on guys being here. Lance wasn't here, so I was concerned about that.

"Everybody starts from scratch, at the bottom. Lance will do that. First, we have to see exactly what type of shape he's in, so we'll bring him along slowly. Once Lance gets into shape, I think it's safe to say he is our starter. He's one of the best linebackers in the game."

Safety Mike Brown is one of several key players (Tommie Harris, Cedric Benson, Charles Tillman) who were injured last season, but all are cleared for contact. Brown said Briggs represents the final component of a championship-caliber team.

"He's a great, great player," said Brown, a 2005 Pro Bowl pick. "He means a lot to this team, so we have all the pieces of the puzzle now.

"NFC champs doesn't really mean anything," Brown added. "We want to be the Super Bowl champs. We stated it last year that we wanted to be that, (but we) didn't quite get there. This year, hopefully we'll get an opportunity to play in that game again and the outcome will be different."

It might be that the closest thing the Bears have to a concern heading into this afternoon's first practice is the ability of quarterback Rex Grossman to play with more consistency in his second full season as a starter. Most of the hand-wringing over Grossman's potential comes from outside the team, however. Smith doesn't consider the quarterback position a cause for concern.

"Experience teaches you a lot," Smith said. "I'm going to look at the amount of work he's put in to improving his fundamentals, his technique. (New quarterbacks coach) Pep Hamilton has done a great job with him. Normally, once you've been in a system for a while, you get better at it. Most quarterbacks I've seen make a big improvement their second year as a starter, and I think Rex will do that, too."