AUSTIN, Texas (AP) Chicago Bears linebacker Jerrell Freeman saved a man from choking at a Texas airport over the weekend.

Freeman tells the Chicago Tribune (http://trib.in/2vPjxr8 ) that he was eating at a restaurant in the Austin airport while awaiting a flight to Chicago on Sunday when he noticed a man frantically running around a neighboring table. A woman recognized the man was choking and tried the Heimlich maneuver, but Freeman says she wasn't forceful enough to dislodge the food stuck in the man's airway.

Freeman says he rushed in like he was "ready to make a tackle" and successfully performed the maneuver.