Mathias Kiwanuka did not play in the Giants’ victory over the Bears but that Sunday night he expressed unusual optimism that the bulging disk in his neck would not keep him out much longer.

Kiwanuka said he was getting a second opinion, reported he felt fine, and could see himself playing Sunday in Houston.

That flew in the face of most expectations that Kiwanuka would have to be out months, not weeks, until the disk issue calmed down, if it did at all. These cervical disk problems can shut a player down for a season, as one did last year to Antonio Pierce.

Apparently, Kiwanuka’s optimism was not grounded in any medical fact. He got a second opinion and as a result there are no major changes in the Giants’ initial prognosis, which is that the situation will be monitored and there is no definitive timetable for his return.

“Time frame, I think there will be a time frame if it’s a wait deal and then once that time frame is met then a decision will have to be made,’’ Tom Coughlin said.

The decision will be to keep Kiwanuka on the roster or else put him on season-ending injured reserve. The Giants don’t want to give up on Kiwanuka this early, but at some point, if the determination is that his neck is not improving to any great extent, the team will have little choice but to replace him on the roster.

“We are going to wait,’’ Coughlin said. “But there will be information forthcoming from the medical people that will tell us what the extent of it is, where the so-called waiting period would end and when the decision would have to be made.’’