Los Angeles: Chicago Bears defender Lamarr Houston will miss the rest of the NFL season with a ruptured knee ligament suffered as he celebrated a sack in Sunday’s loss to New England.

Bears general manager Phil Emery said on Monday that Houston will have surgery once the swelling in his right knee goes down, and rehabilitation is expected to take six to eight months.

Houston was hurt after he sacked New England’s rookie back-up quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo for an 11-yard loss with three minutes remaining in a game that the Bears lost 51-23.

He leapt in the air, then went to the ground clutching his knee. He got up, but sat back down after walking a few steps.

He admitted after the game that it was probably less than appropriate to celebrate so exuberantly in the midst of the team’s defeat.

Emery said he knew Houston — who signed a five-year, $35 million (Dh128.52 million) free-agent contract in March — had been frustrated that he hadn’t recorded a sack in the first seven games of the season.

But he didn’t sound completely sympathetic.

“We’re disappointed for him and in him,” Emery said. “The team paid a price, but at the end of the day Lamarr paid a bigger price. He lost his season. Enough said.”

Houston’s isn’t the first sack celebration to go awry this season.

In September, the Detroit Lions lost linebacker Stephen Tulloch to a torn knee ligament suffered in a celebratory leap.

In other injury news on Monday, New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin said linebacker Jon Beason will miss the rest of the season after surgery for a toe injury that has troubled him since the off-season.

He tore a ligament and fractured the sesamoid bone in his toe during a workout in June.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith suffered a sprained right shoulder in Sunday’s 34-7 win over St. Louis.

He finished the game, and coach Andy Reid said he expects Smith to recover quickly.

“It was tender,” Reid said. “We’ll just see. He’s upbeat about it. We did all the precautionary things, looking at it. It just needs a little time to get the soreness out of there.”