Newz Forum: FOOTBALL: Bears LB Urlacher placed on injured reserve

LAKE FOREST, Ill. (Dec. 22, 2004) -- Brian Urlacher was placed on injured reserve by the Chicago Bears, officially ending an injury plagued season for the star linebacker.

Urlacher pulled his left hamstring Dec. 12 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, forcing him to leave the game early and to miss the team's 24-5 loss to the Texans in Week 15.

Urlacher, who failed to make the Pro Bowl for the first time in his five NFL seasons, missed two games following surgery to relieve internal bleeding in his left calf and missed the third and fourth games of the season with a pulled right hamstring.

The right hamstring injury was originally suffered by Urlacher on the first day of training camp, and he missed all of the preseason.

Prior to this season, Urlacher had never missed an NFL game. He had played 66 straight games and made 64 straight starts before missing the Sept. 26 game with the Minnesota Vikings.

He played nine games this year, all starts, and ranks third on the team with 104 tackles. He leads all middle linebackers in sacks with five and has two forced fumbles and one interception.

Strong side linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer moved over to replace Urlacher in the middle. To replace Urlacher on the roster, the Bears promoted defensive end Alain Kashama from the practice squad.

The Bears signed rookie linebacker Carl Diggs to replace Kashama on the practice squad.

source

NFL.om

Originally posted by Gibbs Baby!!!
The right hamstring injury was originally suffered by Urlacher on the first day of training camp, and he missed all of the preseason.

This is so typical of a hamstring injury. Athletes to their credit are always trying to return to the field as soon as possible but with a pulled hammy it will continue to haunt you until it is fully recovered and athletes rarely let that happen until the off-season. I'm sure it was pretty serious to keep an animal like Urlacher sidelined.