Five games into the season and the Chicago Bears have five starters on injured reserve.
The Bears made the news of Willie Young’s placement on IR official on Tuesday, making him the latest member of the injury riddled team to be out of action indefinitely. Young joins four other starters on injured reserve including safety Quintin Demps, inside linebacker Jerrell Freeman, as well as wide receivers Cam Meredith and Kevin White.
Young injured his triceps during the Bears’ Week 4 loss against the Green Bay Packers. He spent the days leading up to Week 5 on the injury report, first as a limited participant, but later as a non-participant in back-to-back practices on Friday and Saturday. Now, it’s possible the triceps injury could ultimately end his season.
Remember, the Bears can bring two players back from IR later in the season.
Young’s injury status helped push the Bears to sign defensive end/outside linebacker/edge rusher Howard Jones to their practice squad, while also elevating undrafted free agent rookie Isaiah Irving from the practice squad to the active roster for the team’s game against the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football.
The Bears had 21 players finish the 2016 season on injured reserve and are well on their way to surpassing that total a year later. Chicago currently has nine players on injured reserve, but if you add players who were put on the list and later waived, that number swells to 14. Here is an updated list from the one we shared back on September 13:
Joy.