The Chicago Bears will be without three defensive starters when they take on the Cincinnati Bengals at noon.
Nose tackle Eddie Goldman (hip), outside linebacker/edge defender Pernell McPhee (shoulder), and safety Adrian Amos (hamstring) have been listed as inactive for Sunday and will not play.
For Amos, this is his second consecutive missed start because of a troublesome hamstring. Prior to suffering the injury in Week 12, Amos had played on each of the Bears’ 405 defensive snaps since Week 5. Dating back to the team’s Week 4 game against the Green Bay Packers, Amos was in on 99.8 percent of the team’s defensive plays since taking over as a starter for an injured Quintin Demps.
Chris Prosinksi will probably get his second straight start since re-joining the team, but it would be nice if second-year players Deon Bush and Deiondre’ Hall were given some time in the safety rotation.
Sunday’s game against Cincinnati will be the first in which Goldman has sat out in 2017. He missed 10 games in 2016 and ended the season on injured reserve. Goldman looked to be making strides as he was establishing himself as one of the league’s better nose tackles. Unfortunately, every time Goldman looks to be on the cusp of turning the corner, injuries get in the way.
The injury bug is nothing new for Pernell McPhee, who is inactive for the first time in 2016. McPhee is the Bears’ highest-graded edge defender by Pro Football Focus’ standards, but he has played fewer snaps than Leonard Floyd and Sam Acho. He has played on just 45.9 percent of the team’s defensive snaps this season, but had played in all 12 of the Bears’ games entering this game.
In addition to the three starters on the inactive list, Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune reports reserve safety DeAndre Houston-Carson (ankle), running back Taquan Mizzell, quarterback Mark Sanchez, and recently promoted offensive lineman Cameron Lee won’t suit up on the 46-man active roster.