Bears' Robbie Gould nears return from 'freak injury'

For the time being, the Bears still have two kickers. But that may change by Monday night with Robbie Gould on the path to playing.

Gould didn’t practice Thursday but said is hopeful that he can play against the New Orleans Saints. He pulled his right quadriceps during practice last week, leaving the Bears to sign veteran Jay Feely for Thursday night against the Dallas Cowboys.

“There’s a process you have to go through in order to be cleared,” Gould said. “Hopefully, we’ll be ready for Monday night.”

In other words, there’s still a good chance that Gould become a record-setter this season. He remains tied with Kevin Butler for the most field goals in team history at 243. Gould reached that mark on 283 attempts, while Butler did it with 332.

Gould wasn’t sure how he pulled his quadriceps, describing it as a “freak injury” that he suffered at practice last Tuesday inside at the Walter Payton Center.

“I don’t really know,” Gould said. “I don’t really have an answer for it other than it happened during one of the field-goal periods.

“If anybody has an answer on how you pull a quad, let me know. By all means, I’d love anybody’s input.”

The extra days between games definitely has helped Gould, who only has attempted 12 field goals this season (making nine).

“It hurt, obviously,” he said. “Any time you have a pull, you know, you don’t want to have it. We’ve done a great job rehabbing (with trainer Chris Hanks) and making sure that I can have a chance to potentially play on Monday. We’ll see what happens as the week goes on.”

The ‘Good Guy’

Safety Ryan Mundy, in his first year with the Bears, was named the 2014 winner of the “Good Guy” winner as voted by the Chicago chapter of the Professional Football Writers of America.

The honor is based on a player’s professionalism, courtesy and respect throughout a season. Last year, backup Josh McCown was honored.

“Now that I’m the older guy in the locker room,” Mundy said. “I try to do my best to set an example for guys like Kyle [Fuller] and Brock [Vereen] and other rookies and second-year players on the team.”

That includes advice for social media.

“Think seven times, tweet once,” Mundy said.

The injury report

Defensive tackle Jeremiah Ratliff (knee) was limited in practice. He’s missed the last two games with his knee injury.

Safety Chris Conte missed his second consecutive practice with a nagging back issue. Offensive lineman Michael Ola (back) and linebacker Darryl Sharpton (hamstring) also sat out.