BOURBONNAIS, Ill. – Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith believes the natural next step for his team in his third season is competing for the Super Bowl.

“Well, the third year in it we have gone through quite a bit,” said Smith, whose team reports Wednesday to Olivet Nazarene University for Thursday’s start of training camp practices. “I think most of the situations you have to go through as a football team, we’ve been through.

“We’ve had injuries that we’ve dealt with and come back from. We’ve made a run and had a good season, we’ve gone on a long winning streak, and now the next phase we have to go through is how to come back from a tough loss when we’ve been knocked down. This team will get up.”

The Bears went 11-5 last year under Smith and were surprise winners of the NFC North before losing 29-21 to the Carolina Panthers in the playoffs. In the process, they won eight straight games starting rookie quarterback Kyle Orton after Rex Grossman broke his ankle in a preseason game.

Now the Bears are the only team in the NFC North with a returning coaching staff and the only team in the NFL returning all 22 of its starters. They play the NFL’s easiest schedule based on opponents’ 2005 won-loss percentages (.445), and they have Grossman back and healthys.

In their second year under coordinator Ron Turner, expectations are high that the offense will improve on last year’s 31st-place ranking in passing yardage.

“The big difference is just my comfort level in the huddle,” Grossman said. “Spitting out the play and everything comes quicker to you: your thoughts, your reads, where everyone is.

“You don’t have to think about where they are; you just kind of instinctively know where all your guys are whenever a play is called.”

The strength of the team remains the league’s second-ranked defense. It’s the major reason they expect to become the first Bears team to win back-to-back division titles since former coach Mike Ditka’s team did it in 1987-88.

“Super Bowl,” linebacker Brian Urlacher said. “I don’t see why there’s any reason we can’t make it to the Super Bowl and win it.”

“That’s our goal right now. That’s the No. 1 priority.”

Last year first-round draft pick Cedric Benson missed his first month of training camp because of a contract holdout. The Bears have avoided nagging questions about when picks will sign this year. They traded away their first-round selection for picks in the second and third rounds, and signed all of their draft picks by July 5.

Yet, signing questions do linger as they report for camp, which ends in Bourbonnais Aug. 16 before shifting to Lake Forest.

Starting Pro Bowl linebacker Lance Briggs and 1,300-yard rusher Thomas Jones missed all the team’s voluntary offseason workouts. Briggs is an unrestricted free agent after this season and wants a new deal. Jones has two years left on his deal and must compete against Benson for a starting spot.

Smith relegated both to practicing with backups during June’s mandatory minicamp.

“The precedent has been set that our coach obviously wants people here or he demotes some starters to second-team or whatever,” safety Mike Brown said. “But like coach said, the best players are going to play, so when training camp comes around, everyone’s going to have to compete for their job.”

Only backup defensive tackle Tank Johnson (quad muscle tear), starting fullback Bryan Johnson (foot) and reserve safety Brandon McGowan (knee surgery) are expected to be sidelined for Thursday’s first practice at noon.