LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Ensuring that their successful partnership will remain intact well into the future, Bears coach Lovie Smith and general manager Jerry Angelo both signed contract extensions Wednesday night.

Smith inked a four-year extension through the 2011 season, while Angelo signed an extension through the 2013 season. Smith had one year remaining on his original contract.

Lovie Smith and Jerry Angelo helped lead the Bears to their first NFC championship in 21 seasons.

In 2006, Smith led the Bears to the Super Bowl for the first time in 21 years and guided the team to back-to-back division titles for the first time since they won five straight in 1984-88. In 2005, he was named NFL Coach of the Year after the Bears improved from 5-11 to 11-5.

Smith and his agent, Frank Bauer, approached the Bears about a long-term extension a year ago, but the team chose to wait to see if the coach would be able to sustain the success he enjoyed in 2005.

Bears president and CEO Ted Phillips spoke with Bauer about an extension before the end of the regular season and then resumed negotiations after the Super Bowl.

Bauer told ESPN last week that talks had reached a stalemate and he expected Smith to return in 2007 for the final year of his contract without a new deal. But through it all, the Bears coach remained confident that an agreement would be reached.

“When you negotiate, it takes time and my glass is half full,” Smith said last Friday at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. “I don’t see why we won’t be able to get something done, and I’m confident we will.

“I’ve been told that I’m wanted as a head football coach and I know I would like to be the head football coach. Negotiations take time, and I think in time we’ll get it done.”

At the time, Smith said that he didn’t feel as if the Bears were disrespecting him just because they had yet to sign him to a long-term extension.

“I’m proud of what we’ve been able to do,” he said. “That’s the thing about football. As a head football coach, we’re judged on what we’ve been able to do, the product on the field. I’m proud of our program and where we are right now.

“The Indianapolis Colts are in a better position than we are at this time. We didn’t achieve our ultimate goal. But I like where we are right now, like the direction we’re going and I don’t think there’s much more to say besides that.”

Angelo also told reporters at the Combine that he was convinced the Bears would sign Smith to a new deal.

“Lovie had made it real clear that he wants to be our coach, and we’ve made it real clear to Lovie that we want him as our coach,” Angelo said last Thursday.

In terms of his own contract, Angelo said last Thursday that signing an extension was only a matter of time.

“We’ll get what details that need to be clarified on my situation resolved,” he said at the time. “It’s just a matter of me being able to sit down and give my undivided attention to Ted. We’ve talked about a lot of things. I feel very confident we’ll get all of this ironed out as soon as he and I get a little time together.

“We’ve had a lot happen since our last game and really haven’t had that time and our focus—and I’m talking about Ted’s focus—has been with Lovie as well as it should be.”