Bears season may have crashed and burned due to the lack of an adequate backup QB, but a season later they don't plan to give their new backup QB Jason Campbell more practice reps in training camp.
Coach Lovie Smith said Tuesday that getting starter Jay Cutler as many snaps as possible in a new offense remains the priority. "Jay needs to get his reps," Smith said. "And we're going to get those for him."
So what about Campbell, who in organized team activities and minicamp expressed some apprehension over unfamiliarity with the offensive system.
"He'll get his reps but not at the expense of what Jay will get," Smith said.
The Bears do plan to have longer practices this training camp, which may allow Campbell to get more reps than the backup had in the past. The practices may be 2 1/2 hours.
Most NFL teams give all or virtually all of the practice snaps in the regular season to the starting quarterback. But training camp and preseason games are traditionally the time when backups get more playing time.
Behind Campbell, the Bears have last year's inseason pickup, Josh McCown.
