Bears wide receivers like Knox

Peppers showed his strength with two bull-rush (would-be) sacks Monday, and also showed his freakish athleticism by batting a ball up in the air and almost making a diving, one-handed catch for an interception.

Turnovers come in droves
Picking up where it left off Sunday, the Bears defense hauled in four interceptions and forced two fumbles during the 55-minute, 11-on-11 drill to end practice. Major Wright, Zack Bowman, Josh Bullocks and Al Afalava had INTs, and linebackers Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs each batted a ball out of the air.

Not all the day's highlights came from the D, however. QB Jay Cutler threw two nice TD passes, and Johnny Knox returned the first kickoff of camp about 80 yards for a TD.

Lovie not going 'light'
Bears head coach Lovie Smith interrupted a reporter's question Monday to make sure he cleared something up.

"I don't know where you got that we take it light in practice. That's all because we don't take guys down to the ground, but we're not taking anything light out here," Smith said.
"We don't take it easy on anybody, and these guys are going hard out here. They'll be ready."

Rookie Wright slips out early
After another strong showing Monday, rookie safety Major Wright slipped on the grass during a cut, then slipped out just near the end of practice to ice it down.

"Can't talk now," Wright said after supplying the crowd with the biggest Devin Hester hit of the day for the third time in the four-day camp. "I've got to climb into some ice."

With the depth at outside linebacker and lack of a pass rushing defensive end a major concern, the Patriots have been rotating a group of outside linebackers at practice, which includes Tully Banta-Cain, Pierre Woods, Jermaine Cunningham and Rob Ninkovich. The Patriots apparently have shown interest in adding Ogunleye to that mix. Their interest can certainly be attributed to the fact that defensive end Derrick Burgess unexpectedly did not show up for camp, and is contemplating retirement.

I think all of us have that chip on our shoulder. We want to come out and Greg Olsen prove the critics wrong," Bennett said. "We've got a lot of playmakers and a lot of talent, we've just got to show it everyday. You never know who's going to hit you or who's going to make a big play. There are a lot of guys on this team that can."

New offensive coordinator Mike Martz is known for throwing less to his tight ends and more to his wideouts. Olsen has been running out of the slot at tight end and from a wideout position. But much of the pressure of making this offense click appears to be on the shoulders of quarterback Jay Cutler and the four wide receivers.

"They have no choice: They have to be up to the task," receivers coach Chris Williams Darryl Drake said. "They will. They will. There is a lot of talent there, and they're working at it hard. I think they're going to make a lot of things happen this year."

Still, the feeling around the league is that this is an unproven group, and one that has potential but has yet to show the skill level needed to be consistently great. Martz ran a St. Louis Rams offense known as the "Greatest Show on Turf," when QB Kurt Warner and a variety of receivers put up staggering numbers from 1999 to 2001. Those teams scored 500 points in three straight seasons, the only NFL team to do so.

Can the Bears be that team? Many aren't sure. Bears wide receivers like Knox think it's possible.