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Bears' night practice lets quarterbacks shine -- or not
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BOURBONNAIS, Ill.
The Bears and their fans sure know how to do a night practice.
A standing-room-only crowd of about 6,000 fans packed the bleachers and circled the fences around Ward Field at the Olivet Nazarene University stadium Wednesday night. And they were hootin' and hollerin' -- and engaging in cheer-offs for their beloved White Sox and Cubs -- long before stretching exercises. Then kicker Robbie Gould really stoked things when he nailed a wind-aided 67-yard field goal to literally kick things off.
All eyes, of course, are on the Bears quarterbacks -- or lack thereof. One reporter called it dead even -- "more dead than even" -- between Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton. Wednesday was Orton's day with the starters, even though Bears GM Jerry Angelo insists, "We have two starting quarterbacks."
Orton and Grossman had trouble completing passes against no defenders during individual drills but then had what regular practice observers said were their best team sessions of the summer.
Orton was 15-for-18, once hitting Rashied Davis in stride while tightly covered on a deep post route. Grossman, working with the second team, was 13-for-17 -- including one dropped pass -- and looked better throwing deep than short.
"We aren't worried about the quarterbacks," linebacker Lance Briggs said. "We went to the Super Bowl two years ago with Rex. And we went to the playoffs with Kyle before that. Why can't we do it again?"
Mark Craig • mcraig@startribune.com
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| Date/Opponent | Time | W | L | Score |
| Sep 13 - at Cleveland | 12:00 PM | 1 | 0 | 34-20 |
| Sep 20 - at Detroit | 12:00 PM | 2 | 0 | 27-13 |
| Sep 27 - vs. San Francisco | 12:00 PM | 3 | 0 | 27-24 |
| Oct 5 - vs. Green Bay | 7:30 PM | 4 | 0 | 30-23 |
| Oct 11 - at St. Louis | 12:00 PM | 5 | 0 | 38-10 |
| Oct 18 - vs. Baltimore | 12:00 PM | 6 | 0 | 33-31 |
| Oct 25 - at Pittsburgh | 12:00 PM | 6 | 1 | 17-27 |
| Nov 1 - at Green Bay | 3:15 PM | 7 | 1 | 38-26 |
| Open | ||||
| Nov 15 - vs. Detroit | 12:00 PM | 8 | 1 | 27-10 |
| Nov 22 - vs. Seattle | 12:00 PM | 9 | 1 | 35-9 |
| Nov 29 - vs. Chicago | 3:15 PM | 10 | 1 | 36-10 |
| Dec 6 - at Arizona | 7:20 PM | 10 | 2 | 17-30 |
| Dec 13 - vs. Cincinnati | 12:00 PM | 11 | 2 | 30-10 |
| Dec 20 - at Carolina | 7:20 PM | 11 | 3 | 7-26 |
| Dec 28 - at Chicago | 7:30 PM | 11 | 4 | 30-36 |
| Jan 3 - vs. NY Giants | 12:00 PM | 12 | 4 | 44-7 |
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