NFL notes

San Francisco 49ers Coach Jim Harbaugh (right) speaks with quarterback Colin Kaepernick during Sunday’s game. Harbaugh was hospitalized Thursday for a “minor procedure.”
San Francisco 49ers Coach Jim Harbaugh (right) speaks with quarterback Colin Kaepernick during Sunday’s game. Harbaugh was hospitalized Thursday for a “minor procedure.”

— 49ERS

Harbaugh hospitalized

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - San Francisco 49ers Coach Jim Harbaugh was sent to the hospital Thursday for a “minor procedure” after doctors discovered he had an irregular heartbeat.

The team said it anticipates Harbaugh will be back at the 49ers facility today, though it’s unclear in what capacity. No details about the procedure were given.

The NFC West-leading 49ers (6-2-1) host the NFC North-leading Chicago Bears (7-2) on Monday night at Candlestick Park.

“It’s one of those things that, like Coach Harbaugh always tells us, he’s tougher than a $2 steak,” 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis said. “We know he’s going to be all right.We know we have a bunch of great coaches here that keep everything on track, and we’re going to practice today as if he was here.”

Team spokesman Bob Lange said no incident had occurred at the facility. Instead, Harbaugh had visited with doctors Wednesday night after feeling ill, and they advised him to have the procedure done at Stanford Hospital.

Players were informed of Harbaugh’s hospitalization by assistant head coach and special teams coordinator Brad Seely during Thursday morning’s walk through. Seely also oversaw team meetings and the afternoon practice.

Players said the news caught them by surprise.

“He was pretty good. We were slapping hands and talking yesterday,” 49ers safety Dashon Goldson said of Harbaugh. “I didn’t see anything. He showed no emotions. He didn’t show anything like that.”

Added Willis: “He seemed fine to me. He actually sat right behind me in meetings. He seemed fine. I didn’t know anything was wrong. But like I said, we know he’s going to be all right.”

Suddenly, quarterback Alex Smith’s recovery from a concussion is San Francisco’s second-biggest injury concern.

The 48-year-old Harbaugh won NFL Coach of the Year in his first season with the 49ers after coming over from Stanford, where he had engineered a Cardinal resurgence. He won the Orange Bowl in his final year and groomed Andrew Luck into the eventual No. 1 overall draft pick of the Indianapolis Colts.

The always intense coach’s impact was immediately felt up the road in San Francisco.

Harbaugh led the 49ers to a 13-3 record in the regular season and back to the playoffs for the first time since the 2002-03 season. They lost 20-17 in overtime to the New York Giants in the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 22.

BEARS Cutler remains sidelined

LAKE FOREST, Ill. - Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler missed practice Thursday and his playing status remains in question because of a concussion.

Coach Lovie Smith said Cutler continues to improve, but it’s not clear if he’ll be ready to play at San Francisco on Monday night.

If Cutler can’t play, Jason Campbell will likely start.

The Bears believe Cutler was injured on a helmet-to-helmet hit from Houston’s Tim Dobbins late in the second quarter of Sunday’s loss. He finished the half but sat out the final two quarters after showing symptoms in the locker room at the break.

Cutler needs to be cleared by team physicians and independent neurological consultants before he can return. The same goes for teammate Shea McClellin and 49ers quarterback Alex Smith, who also suffered concussions last week.

Lovie Smith gave mostly vague answers about Cutler.

When asked if he expects his quarterback to practice today, he said, “Wait ’til tomorrow and see.”

He also left open the possibility of Cutler playing without practicing this week, assuming he gets cleared. But he wouldn’t say if the Bears would hold out their quarterback even if the doctors gave the OK to play.

“I can’t wait for us to get to the point where Jay is ready to play and we’ll make all those decisions then,” Smith said. “First just [get him] ready to practice and then we’ll go to that next step.”

Defensive tackle Henry Melton said Cutler “looks like the same old Jay.” When he’ll be able to play is another issue.

The Bears crumbled after Cutler broke his right thumb in the 10th game last season, finishing at 8-8 after a 7-3 start, but they believe they have a solid backup this time in Campbell. He could be tested this week by one of the top defenses in the league.

BRONCOS

Dumervil to practice

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. - Elvis Dumervil plans to test his sprained left shoulder at practice today in hopes he can play Sunday against San Diego.

The Denver Broncos’ two-time Pro Bowl defensive end was injured at Carolina last weekend but medical tests this week showed no torn muscles or ligaments.

Dumervil hasn’t practiced all week but said Thursday that his goal is to play against the Chargers.

He had a similar injury to the same shoulder that sidelined him for two games and most of a third last season, but Dumervil said this injury is “nowhere near” as serious or as painful as that one was.

Dumervil has seven sacks and an AFC-high five forced fumbles.

JETS Greene ‘shocked’

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - New York Jets running back Shonn Greene says he was “shocked” by a published report in which he was quoted as suggesting the team might need to make a change at quarterback.

Greene says Thursday the Yahoo! story included quotes that were “completely out of context.” He adds that he never said anything about replacing Mark Sanchez with Tim Tebow as the quarterback. The story quoted Greene as saying: “You feel bad for Mark, but at the same time you want to win games. ... If you want to win games, you’ve got to try something.”

Michael Silver, who wrote the story, wrote on Twitter that he stands by his column “100 pct” and quoted Greene accurately.

Greene says he texted Sanchez when he heard about the story, and the two are fine.

Sports, Pages 21 on 11/16/2012

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