Trubisky, Bears offense looking for improvement

It may be just a preseason game Saturday, but Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky realizes the importance of building upon the slight improvement he and the new offense showed a week earlier.

Against the Broncos last week, Trubisky completed 9 of 14 passes for 90 yards, with 1 touchdown and 1 interception for a 76.5 passer rating in the Bears' third preseason game.

This week's noon kickoff against the Chiefs at Soldier Field will be the final tune-up for most of the starters before the almost meaningless preseason finale the following Thursday.

"It's very important," Trubisky said before the Bears' Wednesday night practice at Vernon Hills High School. "Every time we step out there we continue to get more comfortable, and each time we step out there, we're trying to be better than we were the time before. I think we can keep doing that.

"We definitely made strides from Cincinnati (the second preseason game) to Denver. Of course there's going to be some mistakes. You learn from those and continue to get better and move forward, and I think that's what we've done through all of training camp and the preseason. So I expect to make another jump this week, find some strides, continue to get better and then the week after that, just get ready for the regular season."

The Bears hope to get more from former Pro Bowl wide receiver Allen Robinson than the 11 snaps he played last week. He has been brought along slowly after September's knee surgery but has looked close to 100 percent in recent practices. wide receiver Taylor Gabriel (foot) could be back after returning to practice this week on a limited basis. The Bears' offense will be without tight ends Adam Shaheen (ankle, foot) and Dion Sims (concussion), but it's expected to show more of coach Matt Nagy's playbook than it has so far. But they still won't give away much.

Hopefully we'll just be holding a bunch in, and then it'll all come to fruition in the regular season," Trubisky said. "We have a lot of plans and a lot of high expectations for this offense, especially for myself, so we just need to continue to get better and better and those exciting plays will come to life during the regular season."

This week's game is different than the other preseason exercises because both teams will do some game planning.

"It's been a lot different," Trubisky said. "I get to know a lot more about my opponent, (there's) a lot more preparing going into it, so it's been fun just learning how coach 'Nags' game plans throughout the week, and just preparing with the rest of the quarterbacks, and really just getting used to our schedule and how we're going to be organized throughout the week (in the regular season) and just going through and getting ready. It's been a good experience and it's going well."

Trubisky has also learned more this week about how the Bears' offense will operate when it's at full strength and the games count. After playing just past the midway point of the second quarter last week, the first team on both sides of the ball is expected to play into the third quarter this week.

"We're getting closer and closer," Trubisky said.

After Saturday's game, everyone should have a better idea.

Smith seems doubtful:

Rookie linebacker Roquan Smith was very limited at Wednesday night's practice, participating in only individual drills and no team portions of the workout.

Does that lessen the chances that the eighth overall pick will make his pro debut in Saturday's game?

"Probably," coach Matt Nagy said. "Just because he's not out here running around 100 percent. I'd say that's probably a fair statement."

• Bob LeGere is a senior writer at Pro Football Weekly. Follow Bob's Bears reports on Twitter @BobLeGere or @PFWeekly.