Thread: Urlacher says knee 'is never going to be the same'

If he wont be in football shape come Sept. 9, should he even play?

Beginning of the end?

I hope he can stay with the Bears organization for a long time. As a player etc.

We need to win a Super Bowl for Brian, after all the years he's been here he deserves a ring. I really hope this team can pull together and live up to what they're capable of, we have enough pieces to make a serious run.

Originally Posted by JustAnotherBearsFan99

I was watching Brian that first day of training camp. He was like a young kid. Jumping and high-fiving. Both he and Briggs were chest bumping. He looked great.

At that point the knee must have felt great. But then a few days later, it ballooned up on him and that was that, for training camp 2012. They go in and scope it. Now this.

Professional athletes older than Brian have knee surgery and come back fine. Their bodies are in incredible shape, and Brian has NOT had knee issues. He's been healthy as a horse that way.

But something NOT routine has happened here.

I keep adding all of this up, and coming to the conclusion that THIS is NOT a routine knee issue. It is a far bigger deal.

None of us have access to his detailed medical records obviously, so this is little more than a reasonable speculation based on what we do know. The MCL/PCL strains are not the issue here. Those would have healed up by now easily. BU wouldn't have been running and jumping around like a kid in early TC if that was somehow still a factor. My best guess is that he has a degenerative (osteoarthritis) knee, like virtually all football players who have taken a long career's worth of pounding, and suffered a further joint surface cartilage or meniscus injury to it last January 1. Basically an "acute on chronic" condition that needed an arthroscopic "cleanup"/debridement when his knee blew up on him last month with the resumption of heavy activity.

So, yes, he's right that it "will never be the same" as his knee was 10 years ago. The acute problem was dealt with as best as possible but the underlying chronic degenerative knee will remain. It can be managed medically (glucosamine, chondroitin, anti-inflammatories which he's been on for years) but the ultimate "cure" for most of these athletes is a knee replacement years later down the road after football is long over for them. That's how I met Doug Plank years ago...he was having his 2nd one at the hospital I work at.

We diehard Bears fanatics are in full panic mode right now. It's like something we all knew was coming in the back of our minds but desperately didn't want to think about yet. I don't believe this is "the end" for BU but very likely it is "the beginning of the end" of his phenomenal career. I'm encouraged to hear him say that he's pain-free right now though I expect that not to last when the grind of the RS begins. He is going to have to play through some pain, manage it medically, and the coaching staff is going to have manage his reps wisely this season. Like a baseball manager watches the pitch and innings count of his marqui starting pitcher to keep him as fresh as possible for the stretch run and playoffs. I would hope Lovie will be wise about this even when BU is screaming to stay in the game. For example, if we can jump out to a big 1st half lead, Lovie needs to think about pulling and resting BU in the 3rd or 4th vs certain competition. Yeah, that means recognizing that St. Louis or Minnesota or Seattle for instance isn't Green Bay when it comes to offensive firepower. Example #2: Lovie might want to consider keeping him out completely vs. Jax in week 5. We ought to be able to beat that crap team anyway and have a bye to follow. That's a way to give BU a 3 week respite for his knee after 4 games and keep him in the best possible shape for the much-tougher middle of the schedule. Just some ideas off the top of my head and to how to conserve him if necessary. This ain't rocket science folks.

Who knows...he may surprise us all and play within a half-step of last year consistently but I think a little judicious rest here and there by Lovie (can he be smart and think longer term?) could really help come December and January. Maybe BU has 1 or 2 years max left in him (at a fairly high level). We all hope so. I would think that we will have a pretty good idea of how much he's lost "step-wise" and "stamina-wise" by the time we reach our week 6 bye. Two things are pretty clear though from all this "beginning of the end of the BU-era" stuff:

A) I'm sick of this franchise's and fan base's long held outlook/impression that our D "has to hold the other team to no more than 14" and we can squeak out a 17-13 win.
This offense has no more excuses and no more crutches to lean on.
This offense NEEDS TO PUT SERIOUS POINTS ON THE BOARD ON A CONSISTENT BASIS.
This offense has to STOP EXPECTING THE D & ST TO BASICALLY WIN THE GAME FOR US.

B) Emery is going to have to put MLB at the top of his priority list next offseason. If there happens to be a "perfect-fit, can't miss" guy (Luke Kuechley v2.0) in next years draft, we are going to have to trade-up big time and get him. Maybe spend some big $ and fix LT via FA (Bushrod? Long?). Interior OLmen are much easier to come by. If we get real lucky than maybe BU can play next year as well and mentor a young LB for a year.

Just my crazy, knee-jerk (no pun intended) reaction...