Thread: Sun Times: "Bears’ Gabe Carimi taking it slow"

We really need this guy healthy for the whole season. It would be a crushing blow to have more health issues.

A day after returning to on-field practice for the first time since November, Gabe Carimi was back on the sidelines for Wednesday’s offseason practice at Halas Hall.

No big deal, said the second-year right tackle, who missed the final 14 games of his rookie season after suffering a partially dislocated right kneecap in Week 2.

‘‘[The knee] felt great,’’ Carimi said after the Bears’ completed the sixth of their 10 offseason workouts. ‘‘I woke up and it felt great, but we always had a plan that we weren’t going to practice [Wednesday], so I get to come out [Thursday] and get to do what I did on Tuesday.’’

The Bears are expecting Carimi to be healthy enough to reclaim his starting right tackle position in time for the 2012 season. In fact, they’re counting on the Wisconsin product to be the key ‘‘upgrade’’ for an offensive line that was considered subpar in 2011.

But after a ‘‘setback’’ following a week of practice in November that required surgery on his knee, Carimi is easing his way back. He said he did between 50 percent and 75 percent of the work in Tuesday’s ‘‘organized team activity’’ [OTA].