Bourbonnais, Ill. ? Lovie Smith laughed at a question he no doubt had fielded many times before.

“What distractions?” the Chicago Bears coach asked.

You know, the Tank Johnson situation, the Lance Briggs situation, the Thomas Jones situation, etc., etc.

“Like I said,” Smith said. “What distractions?”

As Smith also said, “things always happen in the offseason.” Even stars get cut (Johnson). Or traded (Jones). Or sometimes they even get – gasp! – unhappy (Briggs).

“There’s a business side to this game,” Smith said. “You take care of that before the season starts. We did that.”

The Bears had an answer for each bump in their road this offseason.

They traded a fifth-round pick for Darwin Walker, who helps replace Johnson at defensive tackle. They have a 24-year-old workhorse running back and former No. 4 overall pick (Cedric Benson) to replace Jones. And they knew Briggs was smart enough to realize that getting paid $7.2 million for one season as a franchise player ain’t quite stocking shelves at the Wal-Mart. Or, as Smith said, “Football players like to play football, so they play football.”

Don’t be fooled by the Bears’ tumultuous offseason. If anything, their organization is more formidable.

They re-signed General Manager Jerry Angelo through 2013. Then they turned Smith from the lowest-paid coach in the league to one who will average $4.7 million over the next five seasons, thanks to a four-year, $22 million extension.

They also bucked their cheapskate image by signing starting cornerbacks Charles Tillman and Nathan Vasher to long-term deals worth a combined $32.5 million in guarantees. Then they chased down Walker with a five-year, $25 million deal.

It’s hard for teams to negotiate extensions for their own players. The Vikings have done a good job of it lately, especially with Kevin Williams and E.J. Henderson. So have the Bears.

“It’s the hardest thing to do in our business, unequivocally,” Angelo said. “You want to reward your own players. I think the corner position speaks for itself, and for us to extend both Tillman and Vasher, two really, really good players for us, that speaks volumes.”

But will this diminish the Bears’ reputation as tightwads?

“It’s like anything else,” Smith said. “There’s a big difference in this world between perception and reality.”

A breath of fresh air

Angelo’s honesty and common sense were refreshing.

On Aug. 9, the day his new fullback, Obafemi Ayanbadejo, was suspended for violating the NFL’s policy on anabolic steroids and related substances, Angelo readily admitted the Bears knew it was going to happen before they signed the 32-year-old veteran, who, by the way, played three games for the Vikings in 1998-99.

“He came to us and was upfront about that, and told us that in all likelihood this was going to happen,” Angelo said. “But we liked him. If he misses four games, we have him in the bullpen for later.”

That’s how the Vikings should speak publicly. It would make for fewer awkward and/or hypocritical moments such as this week’s signing of troubled nose tackle Fred Evans.

The Vikings desperately needed a backup to Pat Williams. Evans is young and promising. It was a good business decision to sign him.

But when a team that preaches about “changing the culture” signs a player with court dates in two states, it requires some transparent backpedaling on the team’s part.

To those fans who are upset about the signing, here’s a tip from the land of reality: For every quote in which the words “change the culture” appear – not only here but anywhere in sports – there usually will be an equal number of times when that team’s situation calls for them to take a chance on someone who at least perceptually doesn’t fit that ideal Ken-and-Barbie culture.