"I'm hopeful he'll be back," McCarthy said. "The time frame just hasn't been established."

Harris was injured in the first quarter of Green Bay's loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night. The injury is believed to be a ruptured spleen, which sidelined then-Tampa Bay quarterback Chris Simms for the rest of the season in 2006.

"It's a serious injury," McCarthy said. "I think that's obvious to everybody. And really, as we move forward, it's a different type of injury. And we will take a cautious approach, and everything we'll do will be in his best interests."

Harris, one of the Packers' top defensive players, won't be able to do any significant physical activity for at least a week and will not play in Sunday's game at Tampa Bay.

But McCarthy also said Harris has sought at least three medical opinions this week and there's a "good chance" he can avoid surgery.

"If Al was standing here, he'd tell you he'd want to play this week," McCarthy said. "That's kind of how he feels."

Harris' agent, Jack Bechta, is one of the founders of the Web site nationalfootballpost.com, and on the site Bechta reported that Harris' CT scan did show "some damage and bleeding" in the spleen. Harris will be reevaluated and scanned again "in a few weeks," Bechta said.

Harris left Sunday night's game in the first quarter after he collided with Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk. Harris returned two plays later.