NEWSLETTER
Last week, the Chicago Bears played it conservatively in practice with Khalil Mack, after he suffered an ankle injury in Week 6, and it looks like something similar may be on tap this week.
If you recall, Mack didn’t practice until the end of last week, and even then, it was in a limited capacity. But hey, it worked well enough to get him on the field and play a career-high coverage snaps (… which we didn’t exactly love, but that’s another story). Well, despite our hopes that he’d be in full health by today, the limitation continued: Mack did not practice on Wednesday and was joined by Eric Kush (neck) and Allen Robinson (groin) as non-participants.
At a minimum, we can take solace in the fact that there’s a clear method to the Bears’ madness – indeed, it first presented itself before the year when the team sat its projected starters for the final two preseason games. Head Coach Matt Nagy has made it clear that health and availability are a priority now and would take precedence over practice participation.
It’s not a bad stance to take if you consider the poor injury luck in previous years while using a different methodology. Change can be good! And since all three of these players who sat out practice for the vast majority of the week leading up to last Sunday’s game against the Patriots played on Sunday, I’m not opposed to this line of thinking.
But there is legitimately good news today, too: the Bears had full participation from players who were dinged up in one way or another after Sunday’s game. Bryce Callahan (ankle), Akiem Hicks (rib), Roquan Smith (wrist), and Cody Whitehair (shoulder) were all a full-go on Wednesday and don’t figure to be on the injury report again this week. That’s four healthy starters for a team that needs all hands on deck if it wants to break this two-game losing skid.
Here is your full injury report:
#Bears Wednesday Injury Report:
DNP: Kush (neck), Mack (ankle), Robinson II (groin)
Limited: Cooper Sr. (hamstring)
Full: Callahan (ankle), Hicks (rib), Smith (wrist), Whitehair (shoulder)— Chicago Bears (@BearsPR) October 24, 2018
