SEATTLE (AP) - Thank the Bears for adding some drama to the mundane preseason.

Chicago will conduct Act II in its starting quarterback saga of Rex Grossman versus Kyle Orton on Saturday night when it visits Seattle for both teams' second preseason game.

Grossman, the maligned incumbent entering his sixth season with 19-11 career record as a starter, will likely play the first half in a flip-flop of the Bears' sputtering exhibition loss last week at Kansas City. He completed four of eight passes against the Chiefs, including a 25-yard touchdown, and says, "I've been feeling good."

Orton, with a 12-6 record as a starter entering his fourth year, will play after that. He was 7-for-10 in three series.

Bears coach Lovie Smith said his starting units may play into the third quarter. As for reading his tea leaves on who is leading the battle at quarterback, good luck.

"I feel Rex has made improvement, like the rest of our ballclub has," Smith said at Bears camp in Bourbonnais, Ill. "We're not ready for the (first) game yet, and you shouldn't be. We don't want to necessarily peak yet. We have three more games.

"Rex has improved, just like Kyle has."

Yet how they do against a Seahawks defense that will be without Pro Bowl pass rusher Patrick Kerney, who is resting a sore calf, may be key to who is the quarterback when Chicago's games get real starting Sept. 7 at Indianapolis.

"We haven't put a timetable on it," offensive coordinator Ron Turner said. "But we know we need to make a decision so we can start getting the timing and everything else going."

Ah, if only the Bears could be the Seahawks right now.

Seattle enters Saturday relatively spoiled at the sport's most important position. Its biggest quarterback issue is "Who's No. 3?"

Pro Bowler Matt Hasselbeck is starting his eighth season as the Seahawks' starter. He will likely rest - just because he can - while third-stringer Charlie Frye will likely start in his first extended chance to impress coach Mike Holmgren. Hasselbeck's back tightened a week ago after he played two series at Minnesota, and he missed four days of practice before returning Thursday on a limited basis.

Hasselbeck is enjoying having the summer heat on Grossman and Orton instead. He used to sweat his Augusts in Green Bay from 1998-2000 trying to prove he was worthy of being Brett Favre's backup.

"Those two are battling for a starting job. I can remember just battling for a JOB - if you don't play the best game of your life here then you probably don't have a job next week," Hasselbeck said. "In terms of a football career it was life or death.

"Packers tickets were hard to come by, but the toughest ticket for me was the preseason. I would have all my friends come out and family come for the preseason. Then during the regular season I was just giving my tickets away to teammates."

Frye hasn't started since Week 1 of 2007, before the Cleveland Browns made him the first starting quarterback traded immediately after the opener since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.

"I'm excited. You're working with the guys who will be playing in the games. It's great," he said.

He's going to see a Bears defense that may play more like it's the regular season instead of mid-August. The Chiefs steamrolled it early last week.

"Obviously we were a little disappointed in that first drive against K.C.," safety Mike Brown said. "We did run a vanilla defense. I think we're going to open up our package a little bit more this weekend. We definitely want to have a different feeling than we did after the Kansas City game."

Holmgren wants to see if he can trust Frye with his offense so he can finally use Seneca Wallace, the dynamic primary backup quarterback, as a receiver and kick returner this season. The coach has been wanting to do that for years, but hasn't had a No. 3 passer he felt could manage a real game should Hasselbeck get injured and Wallace be either hurt or needed elsewhere.

He's needed at receiver now. The Seahawks may be without Bobby Engram, who set a team-record with 94 catches last season, into October because of a broken shoulder. Former Super Bowl MVP Deion Branch may not be ready for the opener because he is recovering from reconstructive knee surgery.

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AP Sports Writer Andrew Seligman and freelance writer Gene Chamberlain in Bourbonnais, Ill., contributed to this report.