Bears receiver Knox has back surgery

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Updated: January 21, 2012 8:18AM

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Bears receiver Johnny Knox underwent surgery to stabilize the L1 vertebra in the lumbar region of his back and is projected to be ready for 2012 training camp, if not sooner, according to a league source.

The Bears wouldn’t provide a timetable, but a league source said Knox could be healed as quickly as three months.

That meshes with comments from Neel Anand, a renowned spine surgeon who is the director of Orthopaedic Spine Surgery at the Cedars-Sinai Spine Center in Los Angeles.

“If it’s an innocuous fracture, and all he needs is screws and rods, he could come back in three to six months,” Anand said.

Some surgeries sideline an athlete for a year. But Anand said Knox having full movement is a very encouraging sign.

Bears teammates were relieved at the positive news on Knox.

“You just want to make sure that, ultimately, he’s OK. Life first,” Bears defensive end Israel Idonije said. “That’s good news, that he’s going to be all right. And we look forward to him getting 100 percent and getting back to the fellas.”

There was plenty of concern, initially.

In the first quarter of Sunday’s loss, as Knox was falling to recover his fumble, defensive end Anthony Hargrove drilled him and pushed his back backward. He was placed on a flat board, loaded onto a motorized cart and transported, via an ambulance, to a local hospital. The team announced after the game that Knox had full movement in all his extremities and that he would have surgery Monday to stabilize a vertebra in his back.

Bears coach Lovie Smith didn’t have any problem with the hit.

“Guy was playing hard. An unfortunate play,” Smith said. “It’s a violent sport, and sometimes… You don’t see hits like that very often, but I can’t say that it was dirty or anything like that.”

Knox’s surgery was performed by Srdjan Mirkovic, the Bears’ spine consultant who works at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, among others.

The Bears announced that he was placed on injured reserve Monday.

Knox finishes the season as the Bears’ leading receiver with 727 yards and ranked second with 37 receptions.

The Bears also announced that rookie safety Chris Conte was placed on the injured reserve with a foot injury. With a roster spot open because of the release Friday of Sam Hurd, the Bears promoted running back Armando Allen, defensive end Thaddeus Gibson and receiver Max Komar to the active roster.

They also added running back Robert Hughes to the practice squad. Hughes played at Notre Dame and played well for the Bears during the preseason.