BOURBONNAIS, Ill. -- Last season, the Bears tasted champagne as the NFC Central champions. For now, they have to see if they can survive Champaign.

The Bears emerged from a five-year losing drought with a surprising 13-win season and a trip to the playoffs. Few could run on their defense. One well-respected scouting consultant rated the Bears young talent among the best in football. "Based on his evaluations, we should have been in the Super Bowl," general manager Jerry Angelo said.

	Jim Miller, forefront, will get competition at quarterback this year from Chris Chandler.

But now comes the hard part. Soldier Field is being renovated, so the team must make a three-hour commute to home games in Champaign, Ill. A television blackout exists if 50,000 seats aren't sold.

And if that wasn't bad enough, there are the same expectation. One ominous sign: Linebacker Roosevelt Colvin and a few of the Bears defensive players toyed with a new video football game before a post-lunch rest recently, and no matter how many plays they tried, the Rams rolled over the Bears, 30-0.

"I was talking to Ted Washington, and he said something about getting 13 wins and that it doesn't happen much," safety Mike Brown said. "It is very difficult for a team to get 13 wins. Games come down to the fourth quarter, and the teams we are playing this year are playoff caliber teams. Last year, by the time people figured out we were good, it was too late. We were already up on them."

Still, it's up to the rest of the NFC to tame these new Monsters Who Won't Be Anywhere Near Midway Airport. Not only are these Bears good, but they are confident. Defenders carry over the confidence that jelled three weeks into last season. A defense built around middle linebacker Brian Urlacher feels invincible. Don't even think about running on them.

"Right now in practices, we were at the point we were at three or four games into last year," Colvin said. "We're still shaking off the rust. Last year, the younger guys stepped up and made plays we weren't making in our second year or our rookie year. We just got comfortable with what we were doing."

Ownership also stepped up. Despite the economic turmoil of a two-year home pilgrimage on Sundays, the Bears did their best to keep this team together. And it wasn't as easy as most would think.

"What we really wanted to do is keep the nucleus of this football team who we considered the core," Angelo said. "We had 11 starters who were up contractually. Getting them back was huge and aggravating. The only negative to winning is the agent. We survived a lot of things, but players were motivated to come back."

Pro Bowl center Olin Kreutz turned down more money from the Miami Dolphins and kept in tact one of the best interior blocking lines in football. Though linebacker Warrick Holdman signed an offer sheet with the Chiefs, the Bears were able to fit the contract in to their payroll. The only real casualties happened in the secondary when there wasn't enough money left to retain cornerback Walt Harris or safety Tony Parrish, but Bears management thought cornerback Jerry Azumah and safety Mike Green were ready to step into those roles.

"Defensively, we lost two players, but we believe Jerry Azumah and Mike Green will do a great job," coach Dick Jauron said. "They have to. They prepared themselves well. Having all three linebackers together (Colvin, Urlacher and Holdman) is going to be good. On the offensive side of the ball, left tackle is an important spot to have, and we feel good about Bernard Robertson and Marc Columbo."

Perhaps that's the biggest question about the Bears this year. How will quarterbacks Jim Miller and Chris Chandler feel in games in which Robertson or Columbo start at left tackle? The plan for now is to start Robertson, an overachieving fifth-round pick from last year replacing veteran Blake Brockermeyer, who was cut. Robertson was either going to start at guard or tackle, but the move to left tackle is vital.

	“	Keith Traylor said that it's not where you play, but it's how you play. That's our motto. We'll just have to adjust to it. It's something we have to do. But we have that confidence level. I think we are borderline cocky almost. We've got to prove to people that last year didn't happen by accident. ”
		— Mike Brown, Bears safety

He is protecting the blindside of two veteran quarterbacks who have had long histories of injuries. At just under 6-3, Robertson is one of the shortest left tackles in the NFL in recent years. Think about it for a second. Except for halfback Anthony Thomas, Kruetz and maybe a couple of the wide receivers, Robertson is the shortest player in the huddle.

"He may be the shortest guy in the huddle, but Bernard is a tough guy," Miller said.

"I never noticed I was short," Robertson said. "I just thought everybody else was tall."

Jauron doesn't want to put the 6-7 Columbo under the pressure of being the every day starter, but if the Bears don't like what they see during the preseason, they have an emergency plan to move Pro Bowl alternate guard Rex Tucker to left tackle and start Robertson at left guard. That's the beauty of this year's Bears team. They do have options.

For example, if Miller goes down, in comes the 36-year-old Chandler, who has 137 career starts and is good enough to take a team to the playoffs. Jauron raves about renewed depth at halfback with Leon Johnson and sixth-round choice Adrian Peterson backing up Anthony Thomas. And no team may be more blessed at wide receiver than the Bears.

It seems as though the Bears keep drafting receivers and two years later they emerge as stars. Marty Booker, a 1999 draft choice, emerged as a physical 210-pound 100-catch receiver last year and Dez White, a 2000-draft choice, stepped up his development during the offseason to draw similar comparisons to Booker. If the trend continues, David Terrell, a first-rounder last year, should bust the charts this year.

"We are going to try to get our best athletes on the field, and one of the ways to do that is to use a five-receiver package," Miller said. "Nickel and dime packages won't be able to compete against our 200-pound receivers. They are going against guys who are 170 to 180 pounds. We can go shotgun and no backs in the backfield, spread the field and do some different things to team. Then from those sets, sometimes we can run the ball."

To a man, the Bears know the road to success this year will be tough because they will constantly be on the road. They'll take shuttle flights to home games and then commute by bus to the stadium. History doesn't treat such commutes well. After a wild-card playoff season, the Seahawks fell short of the playoffs for two years playing at Husky Stadium. The Titans managed only an 8-8 season before fans who didn't want to support them in a one-year stay in Memphis.

"We want to be the first team in history to play every game away from our home town and win the Super Bowl," Colvin said.

"Keith Traylor said that it's not where you play, but it's how you play," Brown said. "That's our motto. We'll just have to adjust to it. It's something we have to do. But we have that confidence level. I think we are borderline cocky almost. We've got to prove to people that last year didn't happen by accident."

For the Bears, it's Champaign wishes and caviar dreams.

John Clayton is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.