Brian Urlacher Expects To Be Ready Week 1

Urlacher underwent arthroscopic surgery on Aug. 14 and fans quickly were worried that the oft-injured linebacker would be missing even more regular season time. In fact, Urlacher was the only person to really insist that he’d be ready for the first game and that there’d be no chance of him being limited until recently.

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On Aug. 14, Urlacher underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, but he’s insisted all along that missing the first game of the season wasn’t an option. A teammate told McClure that the veteran linebacker appeared to be fully active in practice on Monday, so that’s a good sign regarding his status for Sunday’s game.

Urlacher has insisted throughout the preseason that he will be ready for the regular season despite his inactivity in training camp.

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Internally, the Bears are reported to be as though Urlacher won’t be able to go. If he does have to miss Week 1 and could set their sights on Week 2 vs. the Packers. The Bears obviously hope Urlacher can practice before then, which he hasn’t done much of so far this camp.

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Mulligan’s sources aren’t concrete on whether or not Urlacher was treated by the German doctor Peter Wehling, who is credited with pioneering the “Regenokine therapy” famously used by Kobe Bryant and Alex Rodriguez. A Bears spokesperson also chose not to confirm or deny Mulligan’s report.

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One person questioning the optimism happens to be ESPN.com’s medical analyst Dr. Michael Kaplan, who offers plenty of doubt that the veteran defender will be in uniform for Week 1.

“It’s a little aggressive to have him back for the opener,” Kaplan said Tuesday on ESPN1000 radio in Chicago. “I’m not sure or confident that is going to happen. Obviously it’s something to shoot toward, but it’s going to matter really how much damage he has to the joint surface.”