Chicago Bears news: Mike Tice confirms that Gabe Carimi is not 100-percent back

Mike Tice finally let on what has been speculated and reported on throughout the preseason, Gabe Carimi's knee is not completely healthy.

Throughout training camp and the preseason games it had become clear that Gabe Carimi was not yet up to par on his blocking.

Jeremy Stoltz and I talked about it during our Bear Report radio  podcasts that Carimi would periodically adjust his brace in practice.  There were times where there appeared to be some outright discomfort, and Carimi's play in both the first game against the Bills and the second game against the Redskins was not good.

What we have seen from Carimi is not the play of a first round draft pick at the right tackle and Mike Tice finally addressed Carimi's knee after practice today with this quote via Jeff Dickerson of ESPN Chicago.

"He's going to take a while to get up to full speed. I don't believe he's all the way back yet the endurance in his leg is going to come back with game time we're going to be careful if it appears he's getting tired.  We have other guys Chris (Williams) who can go out and spell him if we need to."  said Tice.

While Gabe Carimi was not listed on today's injury report, we do have official confirmation that nearly one year removed from his knee injury Carimi is not in full football shape.

The question now is how long will it take for Carimi to get back in shape?  Is hit patellar subluxation injury that Carimi has suffered twice in his football career something that could become a lingering problem?

Carimi suffered this injury in college when he was with the Wisconsin Badgers, and didn't miss any significant time as a result of it. He suffered the exact same injury last season, and the initial prognosis was Carimi wouldn't miss much time last season.

Instead Carimi missed the rest of the season after playing in only six quarters of football.  With Carimi still not back to full speed you have to wonder if there is a risk of recurrence if he doesn't have full endurance and strength in the knee.

This issue obviously is not something to panic about, but the quote from Tice combined with the preseason observations bodes watching as the Bears begin the grind of a 16 game season that could include  multiple playoff games.