Lovie Smith: 49ers QB will not change Bears approach

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Quarterback Alex Smith was cleared to practice on Wednesday, which appears to be a solid indication that he will be available for the 49ers on Monday night against the Chicago Bears.After all, if there were any doubt of Smith's condition after sustaining a concussion on Sunday, he would not have been cleared so soon for football activity. Smith received clearance from the 49ers team physician, Dr. Daniel Garza, as well as the NFL-mandated opinion from an independent neurologist.RELATED: Alex Smith cleared to return to practice
The Bears have their own issue with a quarterback who sustained a concussion. Jay Cutler was removed from Sunday night's game against the Houston Texans with a concussion. Jason Campbell replaced him Cutler and completed 11 of 19 passes for 94 yards in a 13-6 loss.RELATED: Cutler not yet cleared
The Bears are scheduled to hold their first practice later Thursday. And coach Lovie Smith did not provide any clues to the Bay Area media during a conference call Thursday morning.Can you bring us up to date on the status of Jay Cutler?
"We haven't practiced yet, haven't gone out on the football field. So there's nothing more I can tell you except for, he's getting better, which is a good thing.Will Jason Campbell be getting all the reps today?
"We haven't gone on the practice field. Of course, I'm not going to talk about much of that. I'll give you a lot more information afterward, though."How did Campbell perform when he was forced into the game Sunday?
"Going all the way back, we felt like we needed to improve our backup quarterback position in the offseason. So we felt real good about being able to convince Jason to come here and be Jay's backup. We've been with him for a while. I just love the way he prepares off the field. He's a pro at all times. And he had an excellent training camp for us. He's been very good in the limited time we've given him and being able to go against a very good defense we have here every day. We feel like he's a starting quarterback in the NFL and we have as our backup. We feel very comfortable in him leading us."What about the other side. Do you have to prepare for both Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick or does it see as if Smith is going to play?
"We're going to prepare for the quarterback position for the 49ers. Whether it's Smith or Colin, it doesn't really . . . there's a difference, of course, between the two of them but the 49ers are a running football team. We have to start with that. We have to go with our game plan and we're not going to change much based on who the quarterback will be."That's interesting you say that because they have such different styles. You'd think you'd have to prepare for more running from Colin Kaepernick.
"Colin has been playing some anyway, so we've been preparing for that anyways. Again, we don't change what we do an awful lot based on change in the quarterback. Both of those quarterbacks have played some for them."

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