He knew there would be some sort of sting the moment his right wrist made contact with the sled.
Brian Urlacher braced for the worst.
Surely four months of rehab were not about to go to waste with one shove. So there the linebacker stood, on the first day of the offseason workout program in March, ready to absorb his first true pounding since that dreadful September night at Lambeau Field.
Ready. Set. Push.
“It hurt,” Urlacher said of his first football-related impact on the wrist since his surgery, the morning after last year’s season opener against the Packers. “I’m pretty confident it’s going to hurt for a while, until I get all the movement back. But it’s better than I thought it would be.”
As the Bears prepare for the start of minicamp Friday, Urlacher’s health is sure to be a hot topic as he returns from what could have been career-ending injury. He dislocated his lunate bone, one of the eight bones in the wrist and one crucial in terms of the overall function of the arm and hand.
This offseason, both general manager Jerry Angelo and coach Lovie Smith expressed confidence in Urlacher returning to full strength. Nothing might calm Bears fans’ nerves more than hearing it from the man himself.
“There isn’t anything I can’t do on the football field or in the weight room,” said Urlacher, who is 260 pounds and wants to play at that weight. “Sometimes, like when you have an ACL (tear) or something, it’s sore. That’s how my wrist is. My wrist doesn’t swell. And like I said, there’s nothing I can’t do out there. That’s being 100 percent to me.”
Urlacher contends he has yet to pop in the film of the Packers game, although he watched the replay of his injury on various news stations.
“I still don’t know what happened,” he said. “All you can see is me tackling this dude (Ryan Grant), then you see me shake my wrist. And that’s it.
“I really thought that it was just broken, that I would play with a cast for three or four weeks and then it would be back to normal.”
The Bears need Urlacher to return to his old self if the defense hopes to recover from another dismal showing. Many wonder if the aging veteran, who turns 32 Tuesday, is just about finished considering his tackles decreased in each of the three seasons before last year’s injury. Urlacher shrugs off outside opinions, but he knows he needs to discover his fountain of youth for his 11th season.
Preserving his aching body for almost a full year is sure to help.
“The measure of success for me this season? The playoffs,” he said. “If we go to the playoffs, I’ll have a good season, personally. Whenever I’ve had good seasons, we’ve done well and gone to the playoffs, except for my rookie year and a couple in between.”
The Bears have new pieces to help accomplish their mission. They added veteran coaches Mike Martz and Mike Tice as well as running back Chester Taylor to help Jay Cutler on offense. They bulked up a depleted secondary by trading for veteran safety Chris Harris and drafted defensive backs Major Wright and Joshua Moore. And, most importantly, they signed the top free agent on the market in defensive end Julius Peppers to bolster a non-existent pass rush.
“Pep, he just works, man,” Urlacher said. “I mean, he works his (butt) off. For as good a player as he is — a guy who, I assume, knows how talented he is — he just works.”
Peppers expressed mutual respect for Urlacher.
“One of the first text messages I got when I signed was from Urlacher,” he said. “He was like, ‘Welcome to the team. I’m excited. I’m ready to play with you.’ That was big, to have that approval from him, coming to his team.”
Smith said his star middle linebacker is still the face of the franchise, and Urlacher’s teammates still turn to him for leadership.
He aims to lead by example.
“Yeah, I am putting pressure on myself to play well this season,” he said. “My body feels good, so there’s no reason for me not to be good this year.”
Extra points: Defensive back Danieal Manning, who was a restricted free agent, signed a one-year tender worth $1.176 million Wednesday. Manning has been working with the first team at strong safety alongside free safety Harris. … The Bears signed fourth-round pick Corey Wootton to a four-year contract worth a little more than $2.297 million. He received a signing bonus of $507,175. The defensive end from Northwestern became the third rookie to sign, leaving safety Wright (third round) and quarterback Dan LeFevour (sixth) as the lone unsigned draft picks. … The Bears released quarterback Brett Basanez, who was unable to participate in workouts after suffering a right wrist injury three weeks ago. It could mean the team will sign a veteran quarterback. … The Bears had 78 players under contract Wednesday, two below the limit.
according to fox59.com
