LAKE FOREST, Ill. – With Orlando Pace missing his second straight day of practice, Chris Williams worked at left tackle again Thursday and could start there Sunday against the St. Louis Rams.

When Williams was selected by the Bears with the 14th pick in the 2008 draft, he was projected as a left tackle, the position he played throughout his final two seasons at Vanderbilt.

Chris WIlliams blocks Bengals linebacker Dhani Jones Oct. 25 in Cincinnati.

After a back injury limited him to only a handful of snaps on offense as a rookie, Williams was expected to start at left tackle this season. But when the Bears signed Pace, a seven-time Pro Bowler, Williams was shifted to right tackle, where he’s started the first 11 games.

“I was fine with that,” Williams said of the move to accommodate Pace. “Orlando’s a great guy, a great player, a Hall of Famer. If you have a problem getting out of his way, then you just have a problem in general. I was happy to have him here, learned a lot from him this year. I just love having him around, so it’s great.

“Between having him and [veteran center] Olin [Kreutz], you just learn how to be a great player, you learn what they do that separates what they do from everybody else.”

Williams doesn’t anticipate that switching from right tackle to left tackle will be too difficult.

“I don’t think it’s going to be too tough,” said the second-year pro. “Hopefully we’ll see in the game how tough it is. But I’ll just go out there and play hard.”

Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, who played with Williams at Vanderbilt, believes in his teammate.

“I’m confident in him,” Cutler said. “I know he’s still learning out there. He’s young. He’s still picking up things, still kind of maybe working off that injury from last year a little bit. He’s going to go out there and he’s going to battle, and that’s all I can ask for him.”

Working at left tackle in practice all week should help Williams make a smoother transition.

“I think he’ll be fine,” said offensive coordinator Ron Turner. “He’s an athlete. He’s a good football player, so he’ll go in there and play and work hard at it. That’s where he’s been [prior to this season] and that’s where he figured he was going to be when he came in here. He'll be fine."