The Chicago Bears’ list of inactives makes it officially official:
Today's inactives for #DaBears:
10 Mitchell Trubisky
46 Michael Burton
69 Rashaad Coward
83 Javon Wims
87 Adam Shaheen
97 Nick Williams
99 Aaron Lynch— Chicago Bears (@BearsPR) November 22, 2018
Mitch Trubisky is OUT for Thursday’s game against the Detroit Lions because of a shoulder injury. So as expected, it’s Chase Daniel starting in his place and Tyler Bray serving as his backup. This is Daniel’s first start since 2014. That was in a 19-7 win against the San Diego Chargers where Cairo Santos’ foot (four field goals) did a ton of the heavy lifting. Should the Bears need to lean on their special teams today, at least they’ll go to battle with the reigning NFC Special Teams Player of the Week.
While Trubisky’s absence was expected, Kevin White’s return to the active roster comes as a bit of a surprise.
White has been a healthy scratch for each of the last three games. It appeared as if the writing was on the wall for the 2015 first-round pick, whose snaps were being gobbled up by players who out-performed him ahead of the depth chart. Perhaps White gets a chance to get some snaps in against a Lions defense that has allowed quarterbacks to feast on them throughout the season.
If you’ll recall, White caught a touchdown pass from Daniel during the Bears’ preseason win against the Chiefs. Maybe there’s a connection to be made between the two in a game that matters in the standings. We’ll find out in due time.