NEWSLETTER
The Chicago Bears defense received a mixed bag of news when the team released its list of inactive players for Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Inside linebacker Danny Trevathan will miss his third straight game with a calf injury that has kept him from practicing since the Bears’ return from the bye week. Trevathan last played in Week 8 against the New Orleans Saints, a game in which he saw time on 98.4 percent of the defense’s snaps.
Nick Kwiatkoski is the next man up for the Bears’ inside linebackers. He missed some time earlier in the year with a pectoral injury, but played on 87 percent of the defensive snaps in Week 11 against the Detroit Lions.
On the bright side, defensive end Akiem Hicks and outside linebacker/edge rusher Pernell McPhee are active. Both are expected to play major roles in stopping the NFL’s highest scoring offense. Hicks, who has missed just two snaps in the Bears’ two games since the bye, was kept out of practice this week as he nursed a knee injury. The stud defensive end chalked up the missed practices as maintenance days on Friday, adding he was confident he would play on Sunday.
McPhee was a late-week addition to the injury report with a knee injury of his own. If you’ll recall, a balky knee caused him to miss the entire preseason and put him at risk of starting the regular season on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list. Instead, McPhee started the regular season on the active roster and has seen his role grow since Week 1. Still, McPhee finds himself in a part-time role as the Bears try to manage his snaps in order to get the most out of one of the handful of healthy outside linebackers on the roster.
Outside linebacker/defensive end hybrid Howard Jones, who was called up from the practice squad earlier in the week, is on the active roster. He is part of the team of healthy bodies tasked with filling in for Leonard Floyd.
The Bears will also enter Sunday with a stable of four running backs, as Taquan Mizzell is active for his fourth game of the season. Mizzell has played two offensive snaps in three games.
Joining Trevathan on the inactive list are wide receiver Josh Bellamy, defensive backs Bryce Callahan and DeAndre Houston-Carson, offensive lineman Tom Comtpon, defensive end Roy Robertson-Harris, and quarterback Mark Sanchez.
