Rashaan Salaam barely looked up. Limping past reporters with a muffled grunt, the second-year running back was a study in utter frustration.
A brace on his right leg supported a sprained knee and a pulled hamstring, but nothing could lift his spirits Friday as he left Halas Hall unsure of his status for the Bears’ season opener Sept. 2 against the Dallas Cowboys.
Raymont Harris understood. As someone barely able to contain his own anticipation at playing in his first regular-season game in a year, he is just as familiar with disappointment.
“I can see why he’s mad,” Harris said. “It’s the first game of the season, it’s Monday night, it’s against the defending Super Bowl champions. It’s a great forum to showcase your talents in front of the whole league and the whole nation.
“But he’s young and he just has to realize that the situation with injuries is just going to happen in this profession. He’s just such a competitor, he doesn’t want to miss anything.”
Nor do the Bears want him to miss anything, though the best-case scenario has Salaam returning to practice Wednesday, making his availability for the opener questionable.
“He’s young and healthy, so our doctors are optimistic,” said Bears coach Dave Wannstedt. “There’s nothing torn in the knee. That was our concern (Thursday night). He’ll bounce back. It’s going to be how quick he bounces back from the hamstring. We’ll see where he’s at Wednesday–that will be the sixth day.”
Salaam had a solid preseason until the final game, rushing for 148 yards on 34 carries for an average of 4.4 yards and a long carry of 22 yards without a fumble in three games. His best game came at New Orleans in the second game, as he rushed for 87 yards on 16 carries. Against Kansas City, he had just four carrries for 5 yards and a fumble on the Chiefs’ 3-yard line after an off-tackle run before going down on a pass play.
If he is unable to go, the most likely scenario has Harris moving to halfback and Tony Carter going to fullback, which Harris said will not be a big adjustment.
“The two positions are basically interchangeable in our offense,” Harris said, then smiled, “except that the fullback does a little more blocking.”
Harris, who is happy to be doing anything after a broken collarbone sidelined him for all but two plays of last season, admits that halfback, which he has played all season, is the more glamorous of the two. “When you get good at it, blocking can be fun,” he said. “I’m not good yet. I’m OK.”
Harris has shown the versatility during the preseason that was promised last year, rushing 12 times for 56 yards for a 4.6-yard average, and catching 11 passes for 98 yards for an 8.9-yard average. A bruised thigh that caused him to leave the game the play before Salaam was hurt will not keep him from practicing.
The other option for Wannstedt should Salaam not be ready is to move Robert Green to halfback and keep Harris at fullback. It’s more likely, however, that Green, who had 10 carries for 51 yards in the preseason, will remain in his role of a change of pace back in third-down situations.
What would it take, Green was asked, to see his role expanded? “I don’t know, I really don’t know,” he said. “I’m just going to keep at it and sooner or later, they’re going to see I can play. But I don’t think that’s it. I just think they have a hard job dividing the ball eight or nine ways, so I’m not going to worry about it.”
Harris said he would like to see both Green and Carter get opportunities. “I have total faith in Robert Green to come in and do a great job,” he said. “And (Carter’s) running ability is so underrated.”
Just the same, the Bears want to see Salaam and Harris enter the regular season as potentially one of the best backfields in the league. Wannstedt just shook his head when recounting Salaam’s injury and prefers not to consider the alternative.
“I don’t want to think about it,” he said.
