The former Saint is running with the first team at free safety, a position that has been a problem area in recent years for the Bears, who have had plenty of strong safety types but struggled to find a player with the speed and range that Bullocks has flashed.

"We've known about him for a while," coach Lovie Smith said. "We looked at him quite a bit when he came out in the draft (out of Nebraska)."He has good size. He's started in the league for a long time. He has excellent speed. When we got a chance to meet him, he seemed like the guy who would fit in with what we were trying to do. It was good to see him make a couple plays."

--Coming off a 51-catch season with a team-best 665 receiving yards, Devin Hester is the only player on the roster who can be considered even close to a No. 1 wide receiver, and with no help expected in free agency, he's destined to be the main man again, unless the Bears happen to strike gold in the draft.

"It's important for me to play like a No. 1 receiver," Hester said. "That's my biggest goal. I feel like I have the ability to play as a No. 1 receiver, and I'm feeling real good and confident. Kyle (Orton) is coming out here throwing great passes and organizing the receivers and putting them in the right spots. That's what it's all about, being on the same page as the quarterback."

Asked if Hester could be a go-to guy in the passing game, coach Lovie Smith seemed comfortable with the idea.

"You talked to Devin, right?" Smith said "What did he tell you? He told you he was the No. 1 receiver, right? He definitely has No. 1 receiver-type ability. At the end of (last) year, Devin was definitely playing like a No. 1 receiver and I'm excited about this second year of him being a full-time wide receiver."

In his last six games last season, Hester caught 25 passes for 347 yards. At that pace over 16 games, he'd have 67 receptions for 925 yards.

--Considering offensive left tackle Chris Williams had back surgery before the preseason even started last year and then sat, watched and rehabbed for seven games before making his NFL debut, it might have seemed like his rookie season lasted forever.

But the first-round pick who is being given the starting job to lose, keeps it in perspective while putting it in the past.

"It wasn't as long for me as it was for (rookie running back) Matt (Forte), who played like 20 games," Williams said. "But still it was a long year mentally because of going through the surgery and all that. It was a lot all in one year, but I'm ready to roll now."

Williams was asked if he had any lingering health problems.

"No, there's nothing wrong," he said. "You want to examine me or something?"

--Bears Pro Bowl tackle Tommie Harris calls Rod Marinelli "the best defensive line coach in the league." Teammate Alex Brown says the first thing he noticed is that whenever a player asks "why," Marinelli has the answer.

"He always has the 'why'," Brown said. "When you say 'why,' he has that answer for us. That's one thing that really sticks out. He definitely knows what he's talking about."

To Marinelli, coaching means teaching. And it doesn't matter if he's working with high school kids or multi-millionaire professionals. Players have to know why he wants them to do things his way.

"As a teacher, at any level, no matter where you're teaching, that's really important," Marinelli said. "If it's grey and blurry and you don't explain the why to it, it makes it a little more difficult," he said. "When it's clean and clear, and he can see why you're doing it a certain way, then they'll be like, 'Oh yeah, now I understand why I'm doing this,' and you have a chance to get a guy to maybe play a little bit faster."

QUOTE TO NOTE: "I have a great passion for this game. I have a great passion for fundamentals and the details that go into it. Be exact. I'm demanding in certain areas. I just think doing the simple things correctly and doing the obvious things correctly down in and down out is important. I've always kind of put my stamp on that." -- Bears defensive line coach/assistant head coach Rod Marinelli.