It looks like Markus Wheaton will (finally) make his Chicago Bears debut on Sunday, doing so against the team that drafted him.
Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune reports Wheaton wasn’t on the Bears’ Thursday injury report, adding “he’s as close as a full go as it gets for Sunday.” The Bears signed Wheaton to a two-year deal in free agency with the idea he could provide a vertical threat at receiver. Wheaton isn’t a go-up-and-get-it guy, but has been known to lift the lid on defenses with his ability to run deep patterns.
Doing it in Chicago without Ben Roethlisberger throwing him the ball and Antonio Brown on the other side could make for a challenge, but it’s one Wheaton should be ready to take head-on after missing time with an appendectomy and a surgically repaired pinkie finger so far this season.
More positive vibes continued to roll out from Thursday’s injury report as Biggs tweets left guard Kyle Long, cornerback Prince Amukamara, third-string quarterback Mark Sanchez, and running back/return specialist Benny Cunningham were all listed as full participants in practice.
Long and Amukamara are starters healing from ankle injuries, while Cunningham has been dealing with a high ankle sprain suffered in the team’s Week 1 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. Mark Sanchez showed up on the injury report on Wednesday, one day after the Bears hosted a 16-player tryout that featured a pair of quarterbacks. But Sanchez has recovered and was listed under full participation on the injury report.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t all good news from the injury report as Biggs noted that right guard Josh Sitton did not practice. Sitton left the Bears’ Week 2 loss with a rib injury and his status for Week 3 against the Steelers is currently up in the air.
Just when you thought the interior of the Bears’ offensive line would be getting back to full strength at the right time, Sitton’s injury has thrown a wrench in that plan. We’ll see if his status changes on Friday.