John Thierry is sick of standing around watching everyone else play, but he can’t do anything about it.
The Bears defensive end, who has been out more than two weeks with a pulled stomach muscle, said he’s frustrated at not being able to play. But he said he won’t rush back for fear of further strain on the muscle.
“We’re being smart about it,” he said. “It’s getting better, and you don’t want it to get worse. At first I thought it would be a few days, and that turned into a week, then a week and a half. It’s frustrating, especially since I was coming around and getting to where I need to be. But it needs time to heal.”
Thierry said he should be back in practice by Monday and will be ready for the regular season opener Sept. 1 at Green Bay.
When asked about Thierry coming back for Green Bay, coach Dave Wannstedt said, “Oh, God, yeah, we’re hoping he’ll be back.”
Mark Thomas, a 6-foot-5-inch, 280-pounder in his sixth season out of North Carolina State, will start in place of Thierry Friday in the exhibition finale against New Orleans. Wannstedt said Thomas also would start the Green Bay game if Thierry isn’t ready.
Thomas played the last two years as a pass-rush specialist with Carolina and had four sacks last season.
Short-timer: Wannstedt hinted Wednesday that John Mangum’s stint as the starting free safety may be short-lived. Wannstedt installed Mangum as the starter when Anthony Marshall came up with a hamstring injury in training camp, but it now appears to be Marshall’s job to win.
“Mangum’s doing a good job, but Marshall’s doing better the last couple weeks,” Wannstedt said. “We’ll see how they play this week, but John’s the starter this week.”
Marshall will start in place of the injured Marty Carter at strong safety Friday.
Close battle: Wannstedt said the outside linebacker battle between Sean Harris and Ron Cox is up in the air. Cox seems to have moved ahead of Harris, who is out with a knee injury and won’t play this week.
“Ron’s going to play most of the game this week,” Wannstedt said. “He had a good game last week, so we’re in a battle there. That will be determined next week.”
New time: WCIU-Ch. 26, which last week carried ex-Bears coach Mike Ditka’s half-hour show on Friday, will air this week’s Ditka show at 10:30 p.m. Thursday. That’s because Ditka will be on the sidelines Friday night coaching the Saints against the Bears.
