Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Carlos Dunlap will play vs Chicago Bears

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Dec 2, 2012; San Diego, CA, USA; Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Carlos Dunlap (96) recovers a fumble by San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers (not pictured) during the third quarter at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports /

Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Carlos Dunlap is trying to live up to his lofty $40 million contract, despite having missed nearly the entire preseason as the result of a concussion suffered during practice.

That was more by the coaches’ doing in keeping their top outside pass-rusher healthy, and defensive line coach Jay Hayes said after today’s practice that Dunlap is ready to go and could have even played in Thursday night’s preseason finale.

Dunlap admits while it’s frustrating to have missed the preseason, he’s confident the extra work he did will keep him ready to make an impact the moment he steps onto Soldier Field to face the Chicago Bears:

"“This is real action. There is no blanks. You need to be ready and prepare like this is the season,” Dunlap said, via the Bengals.com. “Preseason is over with you need to be on point. I missed the preseason so one of my things is get my conditioning up because those guys got the game reps I wasn’t able to get so I am getting my conditioning up, doing extra running as a team. The D-Line runs with me. We are all getting ready, we are getting ready for the Bears.”"

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