The Bears anticipated re-signing of linebacker Dom DeCicco on Tuesday is perhaps the strongest indicator yet on the outlook for having Brian Urlacher at his customary middle linebacker spot on Sunday in Minnesota.
With Urlacher questionable with a hamstring strain suffered late in the loss to Seattle, the Bears are expected to shuffle their linebackers by moving Nick Roach into the middle and Geno Hayes into Roachs spot on the strong side. They finished the Seattle game with that lineup after Urlachers hamstring injury.
That creates a squeeze on special teams where Hayes has five tackles and also would leave the Bears without any fallback at middle linebacker behind Roach.
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DeCicco, released with an injury settlement after training camp, was one of five undrafted rookie free agents to make the 2011 roster. He justified the decision by finishing second on the team with 17 special-teams tackles, the most by a Bears rookie since Corey Grahams 20 in 2007.
He played two snaps at middle linebacker against the Green Bay Packers in Game 15 and was a potential fill-in for Urlacher and spent some time as the No. 2 middle linebacker in this years training camp before sustaining a groin injury that brought about the injury settlement.