Professor

Dealing with change :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Mike Mulligan

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. -- Lovie Smith stands on a practice field at Olivet Nazarene University and nods his head as he begins to time-travel. Smith is talking about the first hour of his first official practice as Bears coach -- the day Brian Urlacher went down with a hamstring problem.

It was the first of three separate injuries for the team's most irreplaceable player. Urlacher missed seven games, and the Bears finished 5-11, their only losing season under Smith. A year later, Urlacher was the defensive player of the year, and the Bears had 11 wins and a playoff spot despite losing three quarterbacks and going with fourth-round rookie Kyle Orton to open the season.

Last season, it was 13 wins and a trip to the Super Bowl despite losing safety Mike Brown and defensive tackle Tommie Harris to injuries that left a great defense merely pretty good and simply not enough against the Indianapolis Colts last February in Miami.

Misty-eyed regret and half-remembered glories aren't Smith's way, so when you try to imagine what might have been if the Bears were at full strength against the Colts, what you get from Smith are inspirational thoughts on overcoming adversity.

''Every day you know there is a chance something can happen,'' Smith said. ''What you have to do is stay the course and know time heals all and most things pass. You go from there. You have to keep the team going. No matter what happens, the team has to keep going.''

The Bears travel to Indianapolis on Monday night for a preseason game against the Colts that serves as a reminder of an opportunity missed and a cautionary tale about the season ahead.

These aren't the same Colts that won the championship. Sure, most of the key elements are there -- Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Joseph Addai and Dwight Freeney -- but the Colts enter the season with a host of question marks after a weird offseason of free-agent losses and surprise subtractions.

Already cap-strapped and committed to giving a big-money deal to Freeney, the team could do nothing about the free-agent defections of linebacker Cato June (Tampa Bay), starting cornerbacks Nick Harper (Tennessee) and Jason David (New Orleans) and running back Dominic Rhodes (Oakland).

At least the Colts knew they were leaving. The surprise retirement of Pro Bowl left tackle Tarik Glenn on the eve of training camp has forced the promotion of rookie Tony Ugoh to protect Manning's blind side. At least Colts president Bill Polian protected himself a bit with Ugoh, moving up into the second round to select him in the draft.

There's no cover at defensive tackle, where Anthony ''Booger'' McFarland was lost to a knee injury early in camp. Colts coach Tony Dungy recently credited McFarland and safety Bob Sanders as the keys to the team's ability to stop the run in the playoffs after being miserable in that area during the regular season.

''That's the nature of the NFL,'' Polian said. ''Bill Parcells said to me, and it was correct, that every day you come to work, there are five things that happened that you never anticipated would happen. You have to roll with the punches and be ready to deal with the unknown.''

Losing players is inevitable in the NFL, but the Colts open the season down a combined 112 starts from the team that won the Super Bowl. The Bears brought back 20 of their 22 starters, but they still lost 51 combined starts from last season. The only truly significant departure now that defensive tackle Darwin Walker arrived in a trade from Buffalo was the loss of Thomas Jones (16 starts), who was traded to the New York Jets.

The other six players who started at least one game -- defensive tackle Tank Johnson (10), safety Chris Harris (seven), defensive tackle Ian Scott (seven), safety Todd Johnson (six), defensive tackle Alfonso Boone (four) and tight end Gabe Reid (one) -- also were inactive for at least one game, including Johnson's suspension.

''I don't know if there is an ideal time to get an injury,'' Smith said. ''You just have to know that the odds are you're going to have to deal with some type of adversity throughout the season -- and not just one situation.

''That's why you have to be level-headed about things and don't get too high or too low. Just stay the course.''

The Bears have cut back dramatically on the hitting they do in practice, but that won't save them once the real action starts on Sept. 9 in San Diego.

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