Brian Urlacher's continued absence leads to some Bears angst

Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith continued to insist the injury status of linebacker Brian Urlacher is no serious problem.

And all the while Urlacher keeps missing valuable practice time. Urlacher sat out an entire practice for the second time Sunday and missed time in his fourth straight practice overall. The only thing he's done since Wednesday is go through individual work at the start of two practices.

Perhaps it wouldn't be so alarming if Urlacher had been healthy, but he never had surgery after spraining two knee ligaments in the January regular-season finale and had an entire offseason of rehabbing and babying it while teammates went through OTAs and minicamp. And now it's a problem again.

"There is always concern when you have an injury at the end of the year and you miss some time in the offseason, but he should be OK," Smith said. "It’s not like he really
hurt it any more. You assume -- I assume -- he would have some soreness and he would miss a few of these training camp practices."

Asked if the team would consider having Urlacher's knee scoped to get a better look at it, Smith said, "We're on top of his knee. When he's ready to go, he'll be back out there."

At this point Urlacher's status for Thursday's preseason opener with the Denver Broncos hasn't been decided, but considering the number of practices he's missed it's a safe assumption he won't play.

Without Urlacher, the Bears cover-2 zone suffers. It did Sunday in some nickel work when a few receivers caught passes deep in the zone across the middle -- right where Urlacher normally patrols.

The Bears move Nick Roach from strong-side linebacker to the middle when Urlacher is out. Then free agent acquisition Geno Hayes comes on at Roach's strong side spot.

"Oh, it's a great fit -- still got that old school Tampa-2 kind of scheme, and I love it," said Hayes, who came from the Bucs. The major difference for Hayes is that when he comes in on the strong side, he's playing what the Bucs called their weak side. And if he replaced Lance Briggs on the weak side, he'd be playing what the Bucs called their strong side.

How important is Urlacher in the Bears defensive scheme? The Bears are 64-42 with Lovie Smith as head coach when Urlacher is starting at middle linebacker, and 7-15 without Urlacher.

Follow Bears reporter Gene Chamberlain on Twitter: @CBSportsNFLCHI.