Hoge's Notes: No Changes Coming At Safety
By Adam Hoge-
HALAS HALL (CBS) — There's never a good time for a bad game, but the timing of Chris Conte's subpar performance against the Redskins couldn't have been worse.
"Whenever you don't have a good game, I don't think you want to sit around for a week to think about it," the safety said Monday. "So I wouldn't say it was the best time, but I guess it helped me realize there are things I need to work on."
Conte made the most of the week off and arrived at Halas Hall on Monday with a positive attitude.
"It was a good learning experience for me and what a great opportunity to come back against Green Bay and have a great game," he said.
Both safeties — Conte and Major Wright — struggled against the Redskins, but the coaching staff isn't ready to make a major move at the position.
"I think that our performance in all places isn't where we need it to be but I haven't considered anything like that," head coach Marc Trestman said.
Greene Gets His Shot
The Bears' coaching staff has not decided who will start in Lance Briggs' place against the Packers, but it appears to be rookie linebacker Khaseem Greene's job to lose.
"We'll start with Khaseem and we'll see how the week goes," Trestman said.
Despite the inexperience, the fourth-round draft pick gives the Bears a higher ceiling than Jerry Franklin, Blake Costanzo or Larry Grant (who was officially added to the 53-man roster Monday).
For Greene, his approach is just to keep his feet on the ground and resist the temptation to try to play like Lance Briggs.
"If I am the starter, I can't go out there and try to be Lance and try to do too much because I'm not him," Greene said. "I can learn from him and I've learned a lot from him. But I can't go out there and try to force myself to make plays and stuff like that or I'll end up hurting the defense and the team. So my main thing is just doing what I'm supposed to do."
If Greene is the starter, he'll be alongside rookie Jon Bostic, who has confidence that Greene can make the jump from special teams to the defense.
"Really it's not an adjustment because he's going against good players every day in practice," Bostic said. "We do a lot of ones on ones, so he's getting a chance in practice to go against Brandon Marshall and Martellus (Bennett). He's going to have guys that he's going to go against every day that he's going to see on Sunday pretty much."
Palmer Joins The Mix
While the Bears were on a bye, new backup quarterback Jordan Palmer was at Halas Hall all week getting ready for his new job.
"Every morning I got here at 6:30. I left around 8 o'clock at night," Palmer said Monday.
The quarterback also had the benefit of spending two weeks with the Bears during the preseason so he feels like he is ready should Josh McCown go down with an injury.
"If I'm going to have confidence in any part of my game, it's going to be in how prepared I am to play and what I know more so than how fast I can run or far I can throw it," Palmer said. "I feel like I'm ready to go. If my job is to help Josh get ready to play in Green Bay, great. If my job is come here and lead us to the playoffs, then I'm very, very confident in my ability to both those."
Notables
- Jay Cutler was on the practice field Monday and helped with quarterback drills. He caught passes from Josh McCown and was walking without a limp.
- Cornerback Charles Tillman (knee) did not practice Monday.
- Wide receiver Terrence Toliver was back practicing at Halas Hall after he was signed to the practice squad. Toliver spent training camp with the Bears and was in the mix for a roster spot before ultimately getting cut. Cornerback C.J. Wilson was also added to the practice squad after he was waived by the Bears last week and cleared waivers.
Adam Hoge covers the Bears for CBSChicago.com and is a frequent contributor to 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter at @AdamHoge.
