Where's Peter?

Postcards From Camp Chicago Bears Bourbonnais, Ill.| Aug. 1, 2007 More Postcards From Camp

Devin Hester, who is making the transition to wide receiver, is a sensation at Bears camp. Warren Wimmer/Icon SMI

In Bourbonnais, Ill., at Olivet Nazarene University, a cute little NAIA school 90 minutes downstate from Chicago. The summer home of the Bears is a bucolic campus with a swell football stadium, where I watched the well-stocked NFC North favorite practice for two hours Tuesday night. On Wednesday morning, the Bears worked on the practice fields next to the stadium.

Five Things I Think

1. I think the Bears might want to look at the Web site run by newly acquired defensive tackle Darwin Walker before they know what they have in the run-stopper they got to play alongside Tommie Harris in their 4-3 front. Walker is an engineer, and his site at darwinwalker.com is labeled "Engineered to Sack.'' The Bears think they have acquired the run-stopper they badly needed in the wake of the Tank Johnson firing. They got the 295-pound Walker (he looks stouter to me) for a fifth-round pick from Buffalo, and signed him to a five-year contract last night.

He looked like a space-filler at practice, and Lovie Smith can't say enough good things about him. But in the Chicago defense, playing the run will be job one. Now, in fairness to the Bears, Smith doesn't ever play his front with big-load types like Ted Washington. Smith wants a run-stopper in the middle with some movement. It'll be interesting to see what kind of fit Walker is.

2. I think Tank Johnson is floating out there, looking for a job, and though Jerry Jones insists Tank isn't going to Dallas, everyone here in Bearville thinks Dallas is his most likely landing spot.

3. I think Greg Olsen, the first-round pick from Miami, looks like a man among boys on some of his pass routes. He's a head taller than some linebackers who try to cover him, and head-and-shoulders taller than the corners. Looks athletic too, with good hands.

4. I think the first game of the season this year might well match the NFC team with the most talented 53-man roster (Chicago) against the AFC team with the most talented 53-man roster (San Diego). What an Armageddon game for the NFL's opening weekend. That is far and away the best game of Week 1.

5. I think if you watched Harris at practice, you'd never know he ruptured his left hamstring, requiring surgery in December. He's not favoring the leg at all and reports no pain. Looks like the Bears will have a three-man DT rotation, with Harris at the three-technique slot, Walker the run-stopper, and Dusty Dvoracek the relief pitcher on 30 percent of the snaps per game.

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