Smith was pretty sure Marinelli would choose Bears

Because of his excellent work with the Tampa Bay defensive line over a 10-year period when the Bucs gained a reputation as one of the NFL's best defenses, Rod Marinelli was a much-sought-after assistant, even after he was fired as the Lions' head coach following the NFL's first-ever 0-16 season.

But Bears head coach Lovie Smith was confident that his former roommate and fellow defensive assistant with the Bucs would wind up on the Bears' staff.

"I just knew that it was a perfect fit for Rod to be here," Smith said. "It takes a while in the coaching profession to build up relationships where you work with someone the way Rod and I have had a chance to work together. Getting our start at the same time (on Tony Dungy's staff in Tampa), of building a defense up and knowing exactly what you need to do to play it at a high level.

"So to think that Rod would go somewhere else; I was just hoping he wouldn't. I knew that most teams would try to get Rod, and I'm just glad that he liked what he saw from our program. He looked at our defensive line. I know he's excited about getting a chance to coach all of the different guys that we have. He will bring a lot to our ballclub, not just our defensive line."

In his final four years in Tampa, Marinelli was also the assistant head coach in addition to the defensive line coach, the same title he will hold with the Bears.

Group effort: According to Lovie Smith, defensive coordinator Bob Babich took his loss of play-calling duties to Smith in stride. Babich will have the added responsibility of coaching the linebackers this season.

"Bob is a team player," Smith said. "We didn't meet our expectations this past year, and in the off-season you look to make improvements the best you can, and Bob is excited about that. He's excited about having a more hands-on approach with (linebackers) Brian (Urlacher) and Lance (Briggs) and Nick (Roach) and Jamar (Williams). Just because I'm going to be more involved doesn't mean that Bob isn't our defensive coordinator. There will be a lot of things he'll be helping me do."