"Marty's not a real vocal guy, but he leads pretty much by example," wide receivers coach Darryl Drake said. "Guys can go to him, and he's not one of those guys who isn't going to give the guys the time that they need. He knows a few little tricks of the trade as far as it relates to getting open, and he's constantly sharing those things with those guys."

Booker can be an extension of the coaching staff on the field in the heat of battle.

"Sometimes that's real important because as a coach, you tell a guy something over and over again, but I'm not out there playing," Drake said. "Sometimes a guy that's out there can give them a little bit more insight or confirm some of the things that I've been telling them."

--Running back Kevin Jones, who began camp on the physically-unable-to-perform list after off-season knee surgery; and defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek, who came to camp on the non-football-injury list after straining his calf weight-lifting with teammate Tommie Harris, both participated in Saturday night's practice.

Both were limited to individual drills in their first practice of training camp and did not participate in 11-on-11 team drills.

The 6-3, 303-pound Dvoracek is the Bears' best pure nose tackle and expected to reclaim the starting job, which he won last year in camp, only to suffer a season-ending knee injury in the regular-season opener. The former Oklahoma Sooner missed his entire rookie season in 2006 with a foot injury. He was asked if he needs to prove his durability.

"I'm trying not to even think about it," he said. "I'm just going to go play. If you're trying not to get hurt, you're not going to be playing 100 percent. I just have to go out there and play, and everything else will take care of itself. Obviously, I want to stay healthy, but I'm not going to play tentative to stay healthy. I'll just go out there and let it fly."

For now, Dvoracek is behind Anthony Adams on the depth chart, but that could change in the coming weeks. Regardless of who's listed first, the Bears like to play a rotation of three or four tackles, so there's a lot of playing time available.

"I don't really compare myself to Anthony or anybody," Dvoracek said. "I'm just worried about getting myself better."

The 6-0, 228-pound Jones is a strong inside runner and pass catcher who is expected to provide a solid complement to rookie Matt Forte, but he has a lot of catching up to do.

"I hope that Kevin gets back to where he was before he got hurt," running backs coach Tim Spencer said. "If he does, he was a pretty darned good back in the NFL. He was an established guy, runs hard, is quick, is fast, big. It would be nice for us to have two guys, a one-two punch like that and have a couple guys who are able to do third-down type things."

--The defense, supposedly the strength of this year's team, didn't live up to expectations at the start of Thursday night's preseason opener.

The unheralded Kansas City offense took the opening kickoff and sliced through the Bears for 81 yards on 16 plays and a 7-0 lead.

"I was not pleased with the opening drive," coach Lovie Smith said. "Our defense cannot allow that to happen. We had them in some third-and-long situations, and we let them out."

The Chiefs converted on all five of their third-down opportunities, including once on third-and-10 and another on third-and-15, plus Larry Johnson's 5-yard TD run on third down.

"That won't happen to us a lot this year," Smith promised. "We'll learn from that. We are better than that. I thought after that, we settled down and did some good things."

The Chiefs had 179 yards of total offense in the first half, during which Bears' defensive starters played all but the final series.

--Garrett Wolfe's 64 rushing yards (on just 7 carries) Thursday night, including a 42-yard jaunt, were more than double anyone else in the game, and he also caught a 25-yard TD pass.

"Being (my) second year, you feel much more comfortable," Wolfe said. "I'm allowing my natural ability to take over, and my natural ability is a pretty good ability."

Wolfe also had a productive preseason in 2007 as a rookie, leading the Bears in rushing yards and receptions. But in the regular season he carried the ball just 31 times for a 2.7-yard average and caught 9 passes, although he averaged 13.0 yards per catch. The NIU product hopes to be more involved in the offense this season, and his Thursday night production should help.

"I'm very satisfied," the 5-foot-7 Wolfe said. "That's something I wanted to do; come out and be productive and be competitive and not only show my coaches and my teammates that but show the fans that."

QUOTE TO NOTE: "I feel like I'm going to be better. I feel I'm on a better team with a better offensive line. So the product will be better that I'll be able to put out." -- RB Kevin Jones, the former Detroit Lion, who returned to practice Saturday night after starting training camp on PUP following surgery for a torn ACL in his right knee.