"There's a lot of give and take - mostly give on our part and take on theirs," Angelo said with a smile. "But we were able to (remain) consistent with what we believe in, rewarding our own players. This is a very proud day for us to have Tommie in the fold."

In terms of yearly earnings, Harris is the highest-paid player in Bears history, and the highest-paid defensive tackle in the NFL. But he said he won't feel pressured by the size of his paycheck, and believes players in the league are overcompensated.

"I feel like the reason I have this contract is because I've already displayed that I can carry this role," said Harris, who is the only defensive tackle in franchise history voted to three straight Pro Bowls. "It's nothing that I have to become; I'm already there.

"I don't believe any NFL player deserves the amount of money that we get. But in the business that we're in, they give us all tags and say, 'This guy's worth this, this guy's worth that.' We play a game, a kids' game and get paid a king's ransom. I'm just fortunate to be able to be in this position, and I will make the Bears' organization proud."

That being said, Harris believes he's earned the right to be paid as an elite player.

"It seems like I deserve this," he said. "I feel like I've worked hard for it. I've earned it, going out there playing through different ailments of the body (knee and groin injuries last season) and putting it all out there on the line for this organization, and I'll continue to keep doing it. I'm ready to go out there and continue to keep being the best defensive tackle in the league."

Harris still has one year remaining on his five-year, $9.8 million rookie contract that included a $2.1 million signing bonus. He'll get $18 million in guaranteed money with the new deal and a total of $27 million over the first three years of the extension with a $13 million base salary in 2012.

Harris, the 14th overall pick in the 2004 draft, would have been an unrestricted free agent after the 2008 season, and there was speculation that the Bears would slap the franchise tag on him for 2009, rather than allow him to leave. That would have guaranteed Harris a salary of an estimated $6.36 million, but kept him from cashing in on the huge chunk of guaranteed money that he'll receive as part of the extension.

Unlike Urlacher, who has stayed away from almost all of the Bears' voluntary off-season work to protest the lack of progress in his bid for a multi-million dollar extension, Harris has been at Halas Hall working out and practicing with his teammates.

Earlier in the off-season Harris downplayed his contract situation, declining to set deadlines or issue threats.

"I owe them one year, so there's not really a deadline," Harris said. "It's not a distraction, but to have security over your career or to guarantee security and to be able to get paid for your accolades, I believe that's what all of us do, and that's what we all come to work for."

--With five weeks to chill until the start of training camp, Bears coach Lovie Smith expressed confidence in a running game that features as-yet-unsigned second-round pick Matt Forte backed up by Adrian Peterson and Garrett Wolfe, who averaged a combined 3.3 yards per carry last season.

Although the position appears thin numbers-wise since the release of Cedric Benson, who was the Bears' leading rusher last season with 674 yards, Smith discouraged talk of bringing in veteran help.

"We don't have any plans to do that," Smith said after Wednesday's final OTA practice at Halas Hall. "We like the running backs that we have right now, and those are the ones that we're going with."

The running back depth chart also includes second-year man P.J. Pope, who spent last season on the practice squad injured list, and Matt Lawrence, an undrafted rookie from Massachusetts.

Forte, who rushed for 2,127 yards last season at Tulane, is expected to be the focal point of the ground game, a role Bears coaches may have envisioned even before Benson's two alcohol-related arrests in a five-week span.

"We liked (Forte) coming in," Smith said. "He hasn't disappointed us at all. We feel real good about where he is. I feel like he'll meet the challenge."

Forte will have to live up to expectations for the Bears to bounce back from last season's 7-9 Super Bowl hangover to a playoff team. They're coming off a last-place finish in the NFC North, just as they were after Smith's 5-11 rookie season of 2004. The following year the Bears reversed their record to 11-5 and made the playoffs.

"We've been in this situation before, so it's not new to us," Smith said. "We've been in last place and we've climbed that mountain. So that's the message. It's always good to be the underdog. Right now most people are counting us out. We like that position."

The Bears are not in an ideal situation at quarterback. Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton are jousting for the starting job. If that battle continues throughout the preseason, it could negatively impact continuity within the offense, which will have different starters at both wide receiver positions and is expected to have different starters at three of the five offensive line spots.

Offensive coordinator Ron Turner said the quarterback competition remains even and hopes the competition elevates the performance of both players.

"Right now, it's highly competitive," Turner said. "I think both guys are stepping up to the challenge and stepping up to the opportunity. I see a great focus in both of them. They've both been in the system for a while, so they should have much better knowledge and a much better feel for it and that's showing on the field."

When training camp practices begin on July 23, the coaching staff will get a better idea of which quarterback will lead the offense.

"I'm anxious to get into camp when we have pads on and everything else picks up a little bit," Turner said. "Then you get into some preseason games to see how they are going to respond."

In the mean time, Smith has encouraged his players to avoid the pitfalls that claimed Benson, and Tank Johnson a year earlier.

"It's not a perfect world in any profession," Smith said. "That's definitely the case with us. They know what's at stake.

"Here is the time to go to the Bahamas, go to Hawaii, or just hang out and do nothing. Spend time with family. Let your mind get away from football a little bit because we plan on playing a long time. There won't be a lot of breaks then."

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