The Chicago Bears released their list of inactive players for Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots, but it’s whose name is not on it that stands out:
#Bears Inactives vs. New England:
No. 31 Marcus Cooper, Sr.
No. 46 Michael Burton
No. 49 Kylie Fitts
No. 69 Rashaad Coward
No. 78 Bryan Witzmann
No. 83 Javon Wims
No. 97 Nick Williams#NEvsCHI | #DaBears— Chicago Bears (@BearsPR) October 21, 2018
Slot cornerback Bryce Callahan isn’t among the seven inactives for Sunday’s game, meaning he’ll give it a go for the Bears against a talented Patriots cast of pass-catchers. Callahan suffered an ankle injury on Thursday that kept him off the field for Friday’s practice and put his status for Sunday’s game against New England in jeopardy. Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune made note that Callahan wasn’t on the field for too long during pre-game morning work outs, but Callahan must have shown enough / the Bears must have seen enough good things to keep him on the active roster.
The Bears had three important defensive players on the injury report with Callahan joining pass-rusher Khalil Mack and fellow cornerback Prince Amukamara as players to keep tabs on this week. But at least they’re all active, which counts as a major net positive. At minimum, this suggests the Bears are doing a better job of managing injuries throughout the week in order to get players available for game day. It’s quite the turnaround from what we had grown accustomed to in recent years.
We’ll still need to keep an eye on these three players, their work loads, and how they respond to game situations after missing varying amounts of practice time leading up to the game. But that they are playing should have you feeling better about the Bears’ odds of having at least a puncher’s chance at knocking out the big, bad Patriots.
We’ll have more for you when Pre-Gamin’ gets up and running before the game begins.