After being listed as a full participant in practice on injury reports issued on Wednesday and Thursday, Chicago Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky was finally off the injury report altogether on Friday. That means he is a full-go and will start Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Rams.
And even though safety Eddie Jackson’s name popped up on the injury report for the first time this week with a shin injury, Head Coach Matt Nagy has his assurances that things are OK on the health front:
#Bears coach Matt Nagy said safety Eddie Jackson was held out of practice today because Bears worked out on artificial turf: "Just giving him a little bit of a rest day, nothing major at all."
— Larry Mayer (@LarryMayer) December 7, 2018
Because the Bears were practicing on artificial turf on Friday, Nagy held Jackson out of practice and gave him a rest day. We’re at a stage of the season where coaches will be a bit more liberal giving key players additional rest. And because the Bears are in contention for a playoff spot, they have all the more reason to keep their guys as fresh as possible down the stretch. That Nagy doesn’t see any major issues here is encouraging. So while Jackson is technically listed as questionable on the injury report, there is an expectation that he will suit up, start, and play regularly on Sunday Night Football.
As for the rest of the injury report, here it is:
Friday Injury Report:
DNP: DB Deon Bush (hamstring); DB Eddie Jackson (shin)
Limited: DT Bilal Nichols (knee)
Full: RB Benny Cunningham (ankle); DB Sherrick McManis (hamstring); QB Mitchell Trubisky (right shoulder)
Game Status: Bush (doubtful); Jackson, Nichols (questionable)— Chicago Bears (@BearsPR) December 7, 2018
This is the third straight practice that safety Deon Bush has missed, which puts him as doubtful to play in Sunday’s game. Bush is the Bears’ top reserve safety and a solid special teams contributor. Defensive lineman Bilal Nichols showed up on the injury report as limited with a knee injury, but he hadn’t been on the injury report on either of the last two days. In fact, this is the second straight Friday that Nichols has been limited. But since Nichols played last week, this could be seen as the team giving another guy with a leg injury a limited look while on artificial turf.
Special teams aces Sherrick McManis and Benny Cunningham were full participants in practice again, which means that unit will be that much closer to full strength. And with the NFC-leading Rams coming to town, the Bears will need to be as close to fully operational as humanly possible in order to pull off an upset.