Bye Bye Bourbonnais

The Bears wrapped up their final open practice of the Bourbonnais portion of training camp.

"We knew we had a lot of work to do putting in a new offense, new coordinators, new coaches, some new players" said head coach Lovie Smith. "In these three weeks we've been down here we've made a lot of progress. It's showing up on the practice field right now."

Smith was pleased with the effort he saw on the fields at Olivet Nazarene University.

"I think this is one of the more physical camps we've had," he said. "We have installed a lot, but we have great teachers on here and there was a lot of teaching going on."

The Bears will play the Raiders at Soldier Field on Saturday.

"We plan on playing our starters a little bit longer this week," said Smith. "We should see a big improvement from our first game against San Diego last week."

BENNETT BANGED UP

The regular season hasn't even started and things already are rough for wide receiver Earl Bennett.

"It's been a tough year," Bennett admitted. "I had the knee surgery [in the offseason], then turned around and had the hamstring injury [early in training camp]. It's been tough this year, but you've got to stay strong in the mind."

Despite missing a bunch of practice time, Bennett still believes he can be a contributor this season.

"Oh, I'm going to be a regular participant," he said. "I've just got to get healthy and I'll be alright."

But while he works to get healthy, Bennett is missing valuable practice time in the Bears new offense.

"You've just got to stay mentally focused," he said. "You've got to stay in your playbook. You've got to go over the little things because that's what will get you a lot of times. You just have to continue to go over details. When these guys are out here [on the practice field], whenever they make mistakes or make corrections, I've just got to jot it down in my mind."

One thing Bennett has learned about the offense is that he's a big fan of its concepts.

"This is probably one of the best offenses I've ever seen," he said. "It's going to be great."

Follow Zach on Twitter for the latest on the Bears: https://twitter.com/ZachZaidman