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The Chicago Bears are bracing to be without middle linebacker Brian Urlacher for Sunday’s game at Minnesota.
The club signed Dom DeCicco to the 53-man roster Tuesday, according to a source who has seen the player at Halas Hall, bringing him back three months after he was released with an injury settlement.
Urlacher’s status for the game is unknown after he removed himself before the final play of Sunday’s overtime loss to the Seattle Seahawks with a right hamstring injury. Bears coach Lovie Smith referred to it as a pulled hamstring during his press conference on Monday.
DeCicco, who was second on the team with 17 special-teams tackles as an undrafted free agent from Pitt a year ago, is not being added to necessarily replace Urlacher on the field. But he did play middle linebacker during training camp when Urlacher was sidelined with his knee issue.
The Bears likely will go with the alignment they used to finish the game with strong-side linebacker Nick Roach moving to the middle and reserve Geno Hayes filling in on the strong side. Hayes has been a core special teams player and DeCicco could fill that role. Special-teams coordinator Dave Toub called the loss of DeCicco during training camp a big blow.
DeCicco required surgery to correct his groin injury and with the settlement he was prevented from re-signing with the Bears until after Week 10. He has been busy with workouts, visiting the Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots and Detroit Lions.
The Bears will have to make a corresponding roster move to clear space for DeCicco. The team is also going to put wide receiver Terrence Tolliver through a tryout. He spent time with the Lions and Houston Texans last season.
Linebacker Aaron Curry, a former first-round draft pick of the Seattle Seahawks, was put through a workout last week by the Bears but they obviously determined DeCicco was a better fit for this need.
bmbiggs@tribune.com
Twitter @BradBiggs
Bears may be missing Urlacher
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Bears may be missing Urlacher
