Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher loves the game so much that he gets pain-killing injections and would not admit to feeling like he had a concussion in order to stay on the field.
Urlacher appeared on "Real Sports" on HBO and said that he has been shot up with Toradol, an anti-inflammatory that can decrease pain by reducing inflammation.
"It's normal," Urlacher told "Real Sports." "You drop your pants, you get the alcohol, they give you a shot, put the Band-Aid on and you go out and play."
Interviewer Andrea Kremer points out in the segment that regularly using the drug can lead to kidney failure and gastrointestinal bleeding. Urlacher said he didn't know of the risks, but to him, it didn't really matter.
"Even now, knowing the risks, yeah, I would still take the Toradol shot," Urlacher said. "And I probably will."
Urlacher was asked about the mindset that leads to such risk-taking.
"First of all, we love football," Urlacher said. "We want to be on the football field as much as we can be. If we can be out there, it may be stupid, it may be dumb, call me dumb and stupid then, because that's what ... I want to be on the football field."
Urlacher told the Chicago Tribune that he did not take Toradol this season, but he said he took it between 40 and 50 times throughout his career. He told the paper he also took it in pill form.
"I took two last year in the playoffs because I busted my hip up against Seattle," Urlacher told the Tribune. "I took a shot during the (Seahawks) game and before Green Bay because it was still bothering me. Those were the last two. I use it for relief from pain."
Urlacher told the paper that approximately four or five Bears -- not the same ones every game -- take Toradol injections before games.
The drug, which is not addictive and not a narcotic, is given by a doctor to injured players.
The subject of dealing with concussions also surfaced in the HBO interview.
"If I have a concussion these days, I'm going to say, 'Oh man, something happened to my toe or knee or something, I've got to come out for a few plays,' just to get your bearings back," Urlacher told HBO.
When asked if he would lie about the symptoms, Urlacher said: "I'm not going to sit in there and say 'I got a concussion. I can't go in for the rest of the game.' "
A Bears source said the team takes concussions seriously, becoming the first NFL franchise to make baseline testing mandatory in 1995.