Brian Urlacher undergoes arthroscopic knee surgery

Ending a week's worth of speculation about his knee Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher underwent arthroscopic knee surgery on his left knee this morning.

According to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune the surgery was successful and Urlacher is already back at training camp.

Arthroscopic knee surgery is not a major procedure like reconstructive surgery for an torn ACL or MCL.  It's a minor procedure that is done quickly and usually has a recovery time of three to six weeks.  Urlacher can still very much be ready for the start of the regular season.

This does however mean that Urlacher will likely miss the rest of training camp, and his snaps in practice once the season starts will be limited.

Urlacher stated in an interview last night that he would likely be bothered by the knee the entire season, but he will able to play through it.

As an example Bears DE Corey Wootton underwent arthroscopic knee surgery around the same time frame last season as Urlacher.  Wootton suffered a knee injury on the first play of the first preseason game and then had surgery the followoing week.

Wootton did come back and play on the knee last season but dealt with a hand injury.

Obviously the difference in recovery and healing time between Wootton and Urlacher may differ slightly since Urlacher is nine years older than Wootton.

Later this week on Bear Report radio we'll have another exclusive interview with Dr. Bob Weil where we'll talk more about Urlacher's knee and the surgery involved.