NEWSLETTER
Khalil Mack played through what sounds like a pretty gnarly ankle injury in the Bears’ loss to the Dolphins in Week 6, but it sounds like the team doesn’t think it will be a long-term issue for its most talented pass-rusher.
While meeting with the assembled media at Halas Hall, Head Coach Matt Nagy said Mack is “day-to-day” because of the ankle issue. The Bears are going to be careful with Mack’s work load moving forward, and rightfully so. You wouldn’t want to jeopardize his playing status for Sunday or the remaining 11 games of the 2018 regular season because of some short-sighted decision-making during a practice week. Speaking of practice, Nagy didn’t seem sure whether Mack would participate or not, but it would be fair to assume that the team would err on the side of caution here.
Mack wasn’t the only Bears player whose injury status will be worth keeping a close eye on this week:
Nagy says that Amukamara is day to day as well.
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) October 17, 2018
Amukamara played 52 of the team’s 78 defensive snaps before leaving in the second half after re-aggravating the hamstring issue that popped up yet again. It was a hamstring issue that caused Amukamara to miss the second half against the Cardinals in Week 3 and kept him out of action in Week 4. The situation improved enough during the bye week to allow Amukamara to suit up and start in Week 6, but now the Bears must be extra cautious when accounting for his work load in Week 7 and for the foreseeable future.
From a big-picture perspective, the Bears shared positive news on the injuries to Mack and Amukamara. But because Nagy meets with the media at Halas Hall before practices, we won’t know more about either player’s status until the first injury report crosses the wires later this afternoon. Even then, we’ll only have a small window into what the future could hold for these two starters who will be needed to perform on Sunday if the Bears are going to have a shot at pulling off an upset of the Patriots.
