ESPN

Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris knows what he can do on the field. And he's looking forward to showing everyone Sunday against the Cleveland Browns.

The former Pro Bowler, who is rehabbing a left knee injury, was held out of last Sunday's 45-10 loss to the Bengals by Bears coach Lovie Smith.

Harris dismissed a question Friday about the status of his knee.

"You'll see Sunday. How about that? Then you tell me," Harris said.

Harris later said of his knee injury: "I don't think that was ever an issue. I think somebody just made that up so we'll just leave that alone."

Smith told Harris he would have to practice this week if he wanted to play Sunday. That message was received by Harris, although he wasn't ready to admit that he had to prove anything to his coach.

"I don't have to show him anything. He knows what I can do," Harris said. "Everybody knows what I can do. I don't have to prove anything to anybody. It's all about proving it to myself. I owe it to myself, I owe it to my teammates, I owe it to the organization to get back to tip-top shape. That's what I'm doing."

Harris should be a welcome addition to a reeling Bears' defense already without linebacker Brian Urlacher. As far as expectations for Sunday, Harris said people should expect him to play well.

"People? What you talking about, people? My teammates? They're supposed to expect a lot out of me. That's what I got paid for," Harris said. "It's not a bad deal that everybody is talking all this other stuff; they're supposed to expect that. If you give a guy a whole bunch of money to perform or if you ran a Fortune 500 company and a guy didn't produce like he did, what are you supposed to do?"