Five starters were listed as limited and two others did not practice on Thursday for the Chicago Bears, according to the team’s updated injury report.
Offensive lineman Kyle Long appeared on the injury report for the first time this week with an ankle injury. Head Coach John Fox sees Long’s injury status, as well as that of defensive lineman Akiem Hicks (knee) through the lens of getting both of those players ready to be available for Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Long wasn’t on the injury report at the end of last week when the Bears were preparing for their game against the Detroit Lions. He played just one snap against the Green Bay Packers in Week 10 and has been fighting through numerous injuries just to make it to game day.
Hicks has played 97 percent of the team’s defensive snaps since the bye week, but Fox doesn’t seem to be concerned about his star defensive end’s injury. Since signing his contact extension before the start of the season, Hicks has been a monster and the key cog of the Bears’ defense throughout the season. Hicks leads the way with 7.0 sacks and two fumble recoveries.
There hasn’t been any positive progress for inside linebacker Danny Trevathan, who remains out with that nagging calf injury. Joining Trevathan and Hicks as non-participants in Thursday’s practice were safety DeAndre Houston-Carson (ankle) and defensive lineman Roy Robertson-Harris (hamstring).
Trevathan was the Bears’ leading tackle at the time of his injury. In two games without Trevathan anchoring the middle of the defense, Chicago has been mixing and matching to find fits to create pressure, get stops, and force turnovers.
A handful of other Bears joined Long as being limited on Thursday. Among them were starting wide receivers Josh Bellamy (concussion) and Dontrelle Inman (groin), as well as tight end Dion Sims (illness), backup offensive lineman Tom Compton (ankle), nickel corner Bryce Callahan (knee), and defensive end Mitch Unrein (knee).