Bears Knox to Have Emergency Surgery on Back Today [VIDEO]

By Chuck Sudo in News on Dec 19, 2011 3:00PM

Benjy will break down the Bears game later this morning For now we wanted to give you an update on Johnny Knox and that sick hit he took yesterday that ended his season.

Knox will have emergency surgery today to stabilize what Bears coach Lovie Smith called a fractured vertebrae on WBBM Radio. Knox suffered the injury four minutes into yesterday's game when he was stripped of the football by Seattle's Kam Chancellor. Knox went after the ball and was bent in half backwards by Anthony Hargrove. Here's video of the hit to show we aren't exaggerating when we say Knox was, indeed, bent in half backwards. It's a sphnicter-clenching hit, folks.

Medical personnel worked on Knox for about 10 minutes on the field before he was stabilized and carted to the hospital. After the game, Smith told media Knox had feeling in his extremities and wasn't "paralyzed or anything."

As for a return for Knox, Smith said after the game, "I have no idea. Right now, we're just glad he's OK and we'll continue to monitor him, evaluate him." Smiths comments this morning should dispel any notion among even the most deluded Bears fans that Knox will return for the final two games of the season.