Bears tight end Greg Olsen emerged from the locker room Monday with a slight limp and without a special brace supporting his left knee.
That’s progress, considering the way Olsen slowly left the field during Thursday night’s exhibition against the Cleveland Browns.
The rookie first-round draft pick sounded optimistic that the injury won’t sideline him for a lengthy period of time. He was held out of Monday’s practice, but Olsen was reluctant to speculate about his status for Sunday’s season opener at San Diego.
“Everything is good, it’s just going to take a little time to get it back to full strength,” he said. “But it’s nothing too serious. It’s just a matter of rehabbing it.”
Coach Lovie Smith said Olsen would be a game-time decision.
Olsen spent the weekend in the training room, rehabbing the knee twice daily. He confirmed he had an MRI of the knee Friday.
“Basically, any time you do anything to the ligaments, technically it’s a sprain,” Olsen said. “You’ve got to let the inflammation and stuff go down, and try to get back range of motion. But as far as the ligaments and the cartilage, everything was fine.”
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BEARS HITS
Former Bears KR Jerry Azumah arrived at his birthday bash Saturday night at Vain nightclub and lounge wearing a stylish white suit and sunglasses as his beefy entourage of security people blocked a path for him to a special VIP section. Former Bears DB and current Panther Chris Harris made a special trip to Chicago to attend Saturday night’s party that benefited Azumah’s foundation. Bulls players Ben Gordon and Chris Duhon were among the partygoers.
– ESPNZone will host the taping of WLS-Ch. 7’s new weekly football show,- “The Chicago Huddle,” starting at 1 p.m. Tuesday. Ryan Chiaverini will anchor each half-hour episode and feature an alternating co-host each week between three Bears: WR Bernard Berrian , LB Hunter Hillenmeyer and TE Desmond Clark. The show will air Saturdays at 11:05 p.m.
