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LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Propped with a foot against the wall outside a meeting room at Halas Hall, Lovie Smith subbed the always-careful-head-coach persona for a brief moment of humor sprinkled with blunt sincerity.

Smith understood the point of the question. Still, he wanted to relay his own point.

"There are four coaches here with head-coaching experience," Smith half-jokingly told ESPNChicago.com. "But there's only one head coach."

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Here are five things to watch for when the Chicago Bears host the Green Bay Packers on Monday night.

Performance on third down
It's vitally important on both sides of the ball. Offensively, the Bears could make the contest easier for themselves by keeping the ball away from Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The best way to do that is to convert on third down. The club currently converts just 28 percent on third down, which isn't a statistic indicative of an offense ranked fifth in the NFL. So that needs to improve. Defensively, the Bars need to do a better job of getting off the field on third down after allowing a 46-percent conversion rate last week against the Cowboys. Rodgers is much more accurate than Tony Romo, so it's imperative for the Bears to not allow Rodgers to get into a rhythm by cutting his drives short.

The rushing attack
The Bears need to make Green Bay utilize its base 3-4 package more than it has so far this season (just 15 snaps out of 114). Chicago's best shot of doing that is getting the running game on track with Matt Forte and Chester Taylor, who currently average 2.9 and 2.7 yards per carry, respectively. By getting the running game going, the Bears can enhance the passing attack by forcing Green Bay to take its extra defensive backs out of the game. Jay Cutler completed 63 percent of his passes against the Packers' base 3-4 last season with a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 2 to 0. When Green Bay went into nickel and dime looks, Cutler completed 54.8 percent of his attempts with a TD-to-INT ratio of 1 to 5.

Performance from outside receivers
Count on the Packers mixing up their coverage to confuse Cutler by dropping cornerback Charles Woodson into the slot to create basically a 4-2 front that features five defensive backs. We've already covered how Cutler performs against Green Bay's nickel and dime looks. So with Woodson expected to lock down the slot on some passing downs, the Bears need to do some damage on the outside with Devin Hester and Johnny Knox, who have averaged 15.6 and 23.6 yards per catch in outings against the Packers. Cutler and the outside receivers have dealt with a few communication issues in the past, but can't afford those sorts of setbacks against the Packers, who rank third in the league in passing defense (allowing just 116.5 yards per game).

Coverage in the secondary
Take a second to digest these statistics: in two games last season, the Bears sacked Rodgers seven times and lost both outings. The year before, the Bears failed to sack the quarterback and split the seasonal series. So basically, it doesn't matter whether the Bears sack Rodgers. What's most important is the coverage on the back end, which likely has to be held a second or two longer this week against Rodgers because of his mobility and accuracy. Snuffing out the run should help the Bears because Green Bay relies on it to set up the playaction and drop-back passing games. Because of the Packers' inability to run consistently through the first two games, they've struggled through the air and rank 16th in the NFL (211-yard average). Nickel corner D.J. Moore faces yet another big test against Green Bay's slot receivers, while the safeties and middle linebacker Brian Urlacher face a major challenge in limiting the big-play ability of Packers tight end Jermichael Finley.

Combination of schematics and protection
Chicago struck the perfect combination of schematics and protection with its early adjustments against the Dallas Cowboys. The Bears may find themselves seeking a similar balance between the two in attempts to neutralize Packers linebacker Clay Matthews. It's likely the Bears start off by sending a tight end to Matthews' side or chipping the linebacker with running backs. But if that doesn't work, the Bears need to be prepared to adjust Cutler's drops so he can get the ball out quickly, or roll the pocket to the side opposite Matthews. Similar to what Dallas did last week, the Packers will throw confusing personnel packages and coverages at the Bears, and send the house to pressure Cutler. But like last week, Chicago just needs to weather Green Bay's initial surge, and trust in the staff to put the protection and receivers in the right positions to succeed.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Bears coach Lovie Smith officially ruled out left tackle Chris Williams (hamstring) and safety Major Wright (hamstring) for Monday night's showdown with the Green Bay Packers.

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How would you describe the challenge of defending the Packers? It’s a lot like last week; great weapons around him, receivers tough, veteran physical line. They know how to run the football. They really understand how to run the football. So you’ve got to go in and make sure we work hard to try to control that part of the game because they’re very good at it.

Green Bay’s passing game is getting a lot of attention. How dangerous is Aaron Rodgers as a runner? There’s no question. It all starts there. We have to be able to make sure we control that, put pressure on the quarterback. We’ve got to play our coverages correctly. It’ll be a great challenge. It’s just like last week; really good mobility and he’s fast. He can take that thing down and run and really hurt you.

What would you like to see improve this week? Converting our rush better. You know we’re coming, but we’ve got to convert it. That’s where we are. They’re working hard to convert. You’ve got to get to the quarterback.

How do you make that happen? We’re going hard. You always have to go smarter. They work together on the game of football: hard, great effort, good. It’s just about the details and the smartness of our rush. When you’ve got him captured, you’ve got to finish. You’ve just got to finish, everything we’re doing. They’re trying. They’re working. But I want more.

Opening remarks
Major Wright and Chris Williams didn’t practice. Everybody else practiced. We’re in great shape physically. The guys are excited about playing. We had a great practice today. Hopefully, we’ll have a lot of wind Monday since we’ve had to practice in it the last couple times. We’re ready for that. Again, we’re excited about playing. I’ll take your questions.

(Silence)
That type of day, huh? Thursday? I can understand. We’re going to show up. I assume you guys will, too. … Come on, someone entertain me today. Please.

Everyone talks about Aaron Rodgers, but you can’t neglect the running game, right? No, you can’t. I’m talking about Aaron Rodgers, too. He’s a heck of a football player. But I don’t think you change your philosophy when you have a player go down. They’re going to be without Grant the entire year. They believe in the run. We still assume they’ll try to establish the run. We’ve played the run well. Again, it should be a heck of a challenge for us.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- A cordon of cameras surrounded the man with the diamond stud in his left ear and the hook shaved into his hair.

D.J. Moore, the heretofore invisible defensive back, was holding court with a full array of reporters, showing off his wit and talking about the inner confidence that allowed him to catch two tipped balls for interceptions in the Bears' win over Dallas on Sunday.

Andy Warhol couldn't have predicted it better.

And Moore, an inveterate chatterbox, summed up his life as a cipher last season.

"I might've done one [interview]," he said. "And that was in the mirror."

Moore was joking. I think.

Fifteen-minute heroes such as Moore are a way of life for a good football team, and the Bears are a good football team, as Lovie Smith is wont to say.

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Chicago Bears kicker Robbie Gould talks to Sarah Spain about the team's 2-0 start and his time with the Fuel Up to Play 60 program for kids.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- One of the most consistent players in team history, Bears long snapper Patrick Mannelly, is about to play his 192nd game in a Bears uniform, which would set the franchise's all-time record.

Mannelly and former defensive great Steve McMichael are currently tied for the all-time team lead with 191 games played.

The always reliable 35-year old long snapper, who happens to be in the final year of his contract, had the media in stiches Friday when discussing how long he'd like to keep playing.

"As long as those guys upstairs say I can," Mannelly said.

By upstairs, do you mean God, or Bears general manager Jerry Angelo?

"All of the above," Mannelly laughed. "Aren't they the same? They are in this business."

LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- The Chicago Bears virtually shut down one of the league's top tight ends in the Dallas Cowboys Jason Witten on Sunday when they held him to five catches and no touchdowns before knocking him out of action with a concussion.

Minus the induction of head trauma, the Bears look to duplicate the feat Monday night when they face Packers tight end Jermichael Finley, who is also considered one of the league's elite pass-catchers at his position. Taking advantage of man-to-man coverage last week against Buffalo, Finley led four Packers scoring drives with four catches (24, 32, 22, and 15 yards) for 103 yards.

"He's a big tight end," Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher said. "He runs well, catches the ball pretty [well]. He's just like [Chargers tight end Antonio] Gates, Witten. They all run well. They all know how to get open. They're all in that same category."

While it's likely the Bears could mix in some man coverage on Finley, don't count on the look to be a regular occurrence. The Bills made that mistake on two of Finley's four receptions. Three of Finley's four receptions came on crossing routes in front of linebackers and safeties.

Luckily for the Bears, they defend a tight end -- Greg Olsen -- every day at practice. Finley currently ranks second on the team and fourth among NFL tight ends with 150 yards receiving on eight catches through the first two games.

Finley trails Indianapolis' Dallas Clark (163), Minnesota's Visanthe Shiancoe (162) and San Francisco's Vernon Davis (151) in receiving yardage for tight ends.

"We play our defense [against Finley] No. 1, and try to get the right matchups with guys in terms of our safeties and our linebackers," Bears defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli said. "It's like playing our offense with Greg. Obviously, he's a tremendous threat like we saw last week with Witten. Every week you're gonna see very talented skill players and we've just got to play our defense and play it correctly."

LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Devin Hester remains the Bears' best option on punt return, according to special teams coach Dave Toub.

"He only touched the ball one time [in Dallas]," Toub said Friday. "He was a little hesitant on whether to hit it outside or plant a foot and get up field. He just made a decision to try and beat it [the contain] outside. It just didn't work out, he just had one touch. The guy was hanging up the ball up well and punting away from him, which is what we get most of the time with Devin back there anyway."

Hester's lone punt return against the Cowboys resulted in a five-yard loss, and through the first two games he's averaging only two yards per return. Those numbers are a far cry from Hester's first two seasons in the league, when he rewrote the record book and helped lead the Bears to a Super Bowl. But these early 2010 statistics appear to mirror the numbers Hester put up in 2008 and 2009 on punt returns.

But despite the slow start, Toub sounds committed to keeping Hester in that role for now.

"He is still a threat, and he's the best returner we have on the team," Toub said. "He's the best returner on a lot of teams."

LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- One of the more deceiving storylines emerging from the week leading into Chicago's matchup with Green Bay on Monday night seems to be the impression the Packers can't run the ball.

That's not entirely true, judging from the statistics. Interestingly, Green Bay's rushing attack ranks 14th in the NFL (111.5 yards per game), while the passing attack ranks No. 16.

Now be honest here, you thought those elements of Green Bay's offense ranked just the opposite, didn't you?

The Bears, however, aren't taking the Packers' rushing attack lightly.

"We still want to stop the running game," Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher said. "We don't want to play the pass and get gashed with the run. So we'll do what we have to do for the running game, but we have to get to [Packers quarterback Aaron] Rodgers [in the passing game]."

That's probably the best plan of attack. While Green Bay's ground game isn't exactly overwhelming, it's been respectable enough to set up the aerial attack. Even without the 45 yards put up by Ryan Grant, who was lost for the season, the Packers would still rank eight spots ahead of the Bears in the rushing rankings at No. 22.

"They know how to run the football. They really understand how to run the football," Bears defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli said.

Grant's replacement, Brandon Jackson, averages 3.2 yards per carry through two games. John Kuhn, who usually plays fullback, produced career highs in attempts (9) and rushing yards (36) in the Green Bay's win last week over the Buffalo Bills.

"I'm fully aware of what the numbers are," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "But if you don't run the ball effectively -- on paper -- it affects half your passing game, because as we game plan for teams, you start with your run game. Then you go through your [play] action passing game, then your drop-back game.

"It's no different going [against] the team that we're getting ready to play with Chicago. You have to have the ability to run the football because they do a very good job the way their defense is built against dropback passing. I'm not looking to run the ball just to set up to pass. When we run it, we want to run it very well."

That won't be easy against Chicago's top-ranked rush defense. The Bears limit opponents to a meager 1.4 yards per attempt and 28 yards per game. Still, the defense won't rely on the reputation it's developed over the first two weeks or the absence of Grant for it to stop the Packers.

"You have to look at it this way: the first two teams haven't had success running the ball. They don't have Ryan Grant, and that's a fact," linebacker Lance Briggs said. "The things they're going to try to do running the ball, [if] it becomes ineffective at the beginning of the game, they may choose to air it out. We're prepared for their trickiest runs, their trickiest passes, their receivers finding windows. You always prepare for what they're going to throw at you."

It doesn't matter what it is.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Don't feel bad if you believed the arrival of Julius Peppers would usher in an era of unprecedented sack numbers for the Chicago Bears.

"I was one of those people," Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher said Friday.

After two games, the Bears have only registered two sacks -- Peppers and Urlacher -- and six quarterback hits.

"Sometimes they max protect, sometimes they get rid of the ball quick," Urlacher said. " I have a lot of expectations for Julius, so I expect a sack every play, but it's just not feasible. It's not going to to happen, it's not possible to do that.

”But we are making them move their feet and get out of the pocket. You saw [Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony] Romo last week on the run making some bad throws. They are moving their feet. We're not going to get five sacks a game like we want, but as long as we're getting pressure up the middle and getting in their face a little bit, we're happy with that. We did do that last week for the most part."

In reality, the pass rush issues have little to do with Peppers. Because the perennial Pro Bowl defensive end faces a double-team on almost every snap. It's up to the other members of the defensive line to pick up the slack, according to defensive tackle Anthony Adams.

"A lot of teams may chip him, double him or slide towards him," Adams said. "Whenever he's getting doubled, the rest of us have to capitalize off of that. We haven't been doing that, so we need to buckle down and get taken care of."

For his part, Peppers isn't bothered by the early pass rush statistics, but he acknowledged the importance of attacking Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers on Monday night.

"We just got to rush a little bit better," Peppers said. "It's not really a big deal because we are winning games. As far as the numbers and things like that, it's not as important as getting wins, but we do want to rush a little better. And we will. It's just going to take a little time.

"But it's going to be on our shoulders to try to disrupt Aaron a little bit and try to make him uncomfortable."