AP

Having arthroscopic surgery on his left knee this week hasn’t changed Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher’s belief that he’ll be in the lineup when the Bears start the regular season.

Urlacher spoke to reporters at Bears camp on Thursday and didn’t waver from his pre-surgical promise to be back on the field when the Bears play the Colts. We heard from doctors earlier this week that such a recovery isn’t impossible and Urlacher is not wearing a brace or using crutches to get around two days after having the surgery.

Urlacher also talked about why he didn’t have the procedure done earlier in the offseason since he initially hurt his knee at the end of last season. Urlacher said that he felt great when training camp started and thought that he’d done enough to get the knee ready for action. It wasn’t, though, and that meant Urlacher had to go with Plan Z.

“You never want to get surgery,” Urlacher said, via Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune. “This was a last resort to get it cleaned out.”

Getting Urlacher back in time for the opener is going to take a careful balancing act. He’ll need to get enough work so that he’s able to catch up after so long off the field, but he’ll also need to balance that with avoiding any setbacks that will wind up keeping him out longer.

It’s worth noting that the Bears have a game with the Packers on the Thursday night after the opener. Two games in five days might be tough for Urlacher to manage on an achy wheel, something that could wind up impacting the decisions about his status as we draw closer to the start of the regular season.