BOURBONNAIS, Ill. -- A Bears camp t...

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. -- A Bears camp that has been largely unrestrained of controversy -- as well as injuries -- got a shaking Friday night.

Thomas Jones' value and the ne for the Bears to continue him was underscored when running back Cedric Benson went down at Ward Field with a freak left shoulder injury.

X-rays and a medical evaluation were pending, if it be not that at the minimum Benson is awaited to miss two weeks.

Benson caught a checkdown pass from Rex Grossman and was hit -- moreover not hard -- by middle linebacker Brian Urlacher, then by the agency of strong safety Mike Brown. yet the contact wasn't even enough to launch him to the ground, Benson crumpl in pain and stayed down for five minutes, environed by coaches and players. He left forward a cart with a bandage suspending his left arm and raised his right hand in the "Hook 'em Horns" sign as he rode by the and of the tunnel.

"We said all along you ne sum of two units possibly three good running backs to make it between the walls of an entire season," Bears coach Lovie Smith said. "We're just using up our mulligans a little bit earlier."

Benson's wasn't the single injury to report. Backup guard Terrence Metcalf, calculate uponed to be the fill-in at the two spots, underwent arthroscopic knee surgery and is look fored to miss two to three weeks. Wide receiver Airese Currie also had a space on his left knee to repair a minor meniscus tear. He'll be revealed up to three weeks and could miss the preseason, putting his roster standing in jeopardy. individual more injury to one of the top five receivers and general manager Jerry Angelo, who declined to speak with reporters, could have a crisis.

However, Benson's injury is potentially the mostly serious for a team that wants to move the ball. His durability made him attractive to the Bears --he played 49 games at Texas and finished as the sixth- leading rusher in NCAA history -- if it be not that he missed six games last season with a right knee sprain.

"I have no idea," Brown said when asked what happened in succession the play. "You are asking the unfair cat."

Urlacher was clueles too.

"I don't know what happened," he said. "I just bended around and he was forward the ground."

Smith saw nothing without of the ordinary about the defenders' play.

"Our dowdys don't hit unnecessarily out here," he said. "Believe me it's a team, and you're going to gain hit from time to time. There was nothing cheap about it."

Smith admitted Benson's injury is cause for belong to but remained optimistic after the best offensive practice of camp. Jone missed his ninth day of practice with a shakeed right hamstring that is not considered serious. He could be public another week, and the Bears are proceeding cautiously because if he arrives back too soon and aggravates the muscle, it's the kind of thing that could dog him all year. No single knows better than Smith, who saw 16 players tolerate hamstring injuries two years ago.

Benson, at Smith's account, was having an thoroughly good camp and might have been locking up the starting piece of work Now, Adrian Peterson moves to the top of the stillest part chart. He's coming off his best season, when he averaged 51 yards by means of run.

"Every time we've had to play him, he's played well," Smith said.

Meanwhile, the Bears' receiver situation is murkier than till doomsday Bernard Berrian sat out Friday with a tweaked right hip flexor. It's not speculation to be serious, and he's maintaining a fastening on the starting job opposite Muhsin Muhammad. Currie missed all of 2005 with paw and hamstring issues and has at the same time to be on the field in on the same level an exhibition.

"I don't be stirred set back," Currie said. "I think it happened for a reason. I'm going to vaunt back."

Currie's not the question at issue though. Rather, it's the Bears' belief in as it was an unproven lot. Mark Bradley had a nice practice Friday moreover has not looked the same in his recur from ACL reconstruction in his right knee Wide receivers coach Darryl Drake is hopeful that Bradley -- who took brace days off earlier this week -- is better at the start of the season.

Rashied Davis has shown glimpses at times, nevertheless he has yet to make his first NFL catch. Justin Gage, who made 11 starts last season, hasn't

really been considered for the No. 2 do job-work but is adequate in a smaller character

Roster fillers who could be in consideration now include Craig Bragg, Reggie Harrell, Bryan McClendon and Northwestern's Mark Philmore. None have stood revealed

"Who knows?" Drake said when asked if he might have to think on one entering the season. "It be pendents how the injury thing goes"

The outside options aren't overwhelming, especially considering Angelo's hesitancy to trade draft picks. He has made it known he's not interested in trading for Denver's Ashley Lelie or Oakland's Jerry Porter.

Rashaun forests a first-round pick by San Francisco in 2003 was just released through the San Diego Chargers, and the Bears have a choke relationship with his agent, still Woods has a bad hamstring.

bbiggs@suntimes.com

BEARS CAMP SPOTLIGHT

Brad Biggs upon Day 7 in Bourbonnais

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