Thread: Finally someone besides me is getting worried about Urlachers Knee

That's why we signed Geno Hayes

Briggs, Urlacher, Roach and Hayes are starters and we finally have some depth

Brian will be OK but we may not see him bounce back as quickly or completely from injuries now. He has an older high-mileage body and old knees.

Originally Posted by BigBadPapaBear

I'm all for them keeping him out of the entire preseason. Its like riding a bike for guys like Urlacher.
Rest that guy's body because its going to see a pounding when the season starts.

I agree, and I think the Bears agree, that it's fine to give Urlacher a lot of rest when they can. He'll get enough work to be ready for the season. It may be a healthy thing for the Bears to realize that Urlacher will not go on forever. They need an exit strategy for when Brian can't anchor our defense. And they realize that nobody on the present roster is a long-term solution to this pending problem.

Originally Posted by bearsinhouston

I've always said that if it isn't better with all the rest it had that it isn't going to get better by playing on Sundays in the NFL.

The fact that it is sore and that he doesn't have as much time now to heal it as he had before makes me think Urlacher is going to have to try to play with a bad knee and that's not going to work out well.

I'm hoping that this extra time will do what the summer off couldn't but I am concerned about it.

Bears admit some concern after Brian Urlacher’s fourth straight miss

Posted by Darin Gantt on August 6, 2012, 8:05 AM EDT
AP All offseason, the Bears and Brian Urlacher have insisted he’d be fine coming back from last year’s Week 17 knee injury.
And optimism’s fine, until it becomes clouded by the reality that the Pro Bowl middle linebacker has now missed four straight practices.
‘‘It’s always a concern when you have an injury at the end of the year and you miss some time in the offseason,’’ Smith said, via Mark Potash of the Chicago Sun-Times. ‘‘But he should be OK.’’
The reality of the matter is, Urlacher’s 34, and shouldn’t be expected to bounce back as quickly as a younger player would. That’s why Smith was trying to manage the expectations as best he could.
‘‘It’s not like he hurt it any more,’’ Smith said. ‘‘You assume he’d have some soreness and he’d miss a few of these training-camp practices.’’
After going through three padded practices in a four-day span, Urlacher missing the last four is a reasonable concern.
As is how they’d replace him if he missed regular season time. they could shuffle Nick Roach inside and add Geno Hayes at strongside linebacker, or rush the conversion of college safety Dom DeCicco. If they had to go either of those routes, then you’d see more concern on Smith’s face.

Oh so NOW ur 'concerned' about Urlachers knee ?

Originally Posted by BigBadPapaBear

I'm all for them keeping him out of the entire preseason. Its like riding a bike for guys like Urlacher.
Rest that guy's body because its going to see a pounding when the season starts.

That's really not a bad idea. He's a warrior so sore or not once the adrenaline starts pumping on Sundays he'll be playing even if he has to shoot the knee up. Remember, this is the same guy who said if he got a concussion he wouldn't report it and he wouldn't come out. He loves the game. I almost hate to use this comparison but he's like the Brett Favre of MLB's. He's not gonna quit until he's forced to by a decline his play.

The problem as I see it is that knowing his knee is sore guys are gonna come after it and take some shots. There's no way to avoid that in the regular season but we really don't want some snot nosed rookie who's trying to make a roster by making a name for himself taking a shot at him in some meaningless preseason game. Protect him. Let him sit for a while.

As it stands we need to get somebody ready just in case anyway. DeCicco gained some bulk this offseason and has some potential but he doesn't know the defense well enough to run it. So give Roach some time there which also gets Hayes playing with the first string and gets him more prepared as well. We can't replace Urlacher's talents but we don't need to fall apart over it either.

I think we have no chance but drafting a LB in the next draft high... only if Shea or Hardin could take his place. Then we need to draft a DE early again