August 6, 2007

Bears return home

2007 8-17: Wolfe in Bears 8-17: Tightends 8-16: 'Peanut' 8-16: Linebackers 8-15: D-Day 8-15: Madden '08 gets 8-15: Mannelly known 8-15: Cornerbacks 8-14: A step ahead 8-14: Offensive guards, 8-13: Benson has clear More

By Jimmy Street

sports@daily-journal.com

CHICAGO -- The last time the Chicago Bears were in the Soldier Field locker room, the team was celebrating a 39-14 win over the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Championship game on a cold, damp January evening.

Just more than six months later, the Bears traveled from Bourbonnais to the scene of their January celebration for Sunday's Chicago Sun-Times Family Night, and the return to Soldier Field was in perfect harmony with the good note the defending NFC Champions left on.

"It came back to us pretty quick," said head coach Lovie Smith. "The last time we were in that locker room, we were celebrating. Of course, quite a few of the players mentioned that. It seems like a long time but it's here. We didn't finish last year and we can't wait to get it going again."

The Bears received a warm welcome from the sell-out crowd of 40,000, with the loudest ovations coming upon the introductions of Brian Urlacher, Devin Hester and Rex Grossman.

Aside from getting a look at some of the more tenured members of the squad, fans got a chance to see some new faces on Sunday.

After being acquired in the off-season, Adam Archuleta is one of the Bears' new faces and the safety is looking forward to playing in Chicago.

"It's going to be a pleasure playing here this year," said Archuleta. "The fans have great energy and it's nice to get out here under the lights, in front of the fans, for the first time."

In similar fashion to recent practices, the Bears' defense continued to take big strides in catching up with the team's new, fast-paced offensive attack on Sunday, and Archuleta feels like a lot of that progress has to do with pride.

"I think we have a lot of pride on defense and we're going to continue to get better and better," said Archuleta. "We're starting to get the chemistry and we're starting to gel."

Another new face that should play a significant role in the Bears' defense is recently acquired defensive tackle, Darwin Walker.

Walker is anxious to meet the fans' expectations during the 2007 campaign.

"Everybody is going off of what I've done in the past, so now I have a lot to prove," Walker said. "I'd like to show up and come out and meet people's expectations. I'm excited about that."

Because of high expectations for some of the Bears' young defensive backs, Dante Wesley was not in practice on Sunday, but Smith informed the media that Wesley is still with the team for the time being.

"We have a lot of young corners that we want to take looks at," said Smith. "Dante is really not in our plans anymore and we're looking at some different options for him."

Other players that were in practice, but not in pads, included Tommie Harris, Antonio Garay, Desmond Clark and Muhsin Muhammad.

Despite Smith stating there were no serious injuries to this point in camp on Saturday, Sunday marked the fifth straight day that Muhammad has been out of the Bears' routine.

After Sunday's practice in Chicago, the Bears will have an off-day today before returning to Olivet on Tuesday for a double dip, when the team returns to the practice field at 9:30 a.m. before a 7 p.m. showing at Ward Field.