I imagine the level of optimism Bears Head Coach Matt Nagy had regarding the possibility of Mitch Trubisky playing on Sunday has ticked up from something close to “cautious” in light of Wednesday’s injury report.
Trubisky was listed as a full-participant on the first injury report of Saints week. That is encouraging news for QB1 as he makes his way back from an injury to his non-throwing shoulder that caused him to miss all but six plays of Chicago’s Week 4 win against the Vikings and put him out of action when the team lost to the Raiders in London a week later.
Nagy previously expressed optimism (plenty of it, too) about Trubisky getting back into the swing of things, but held back just enough because he was waiting to see it for himself in practice. I’ll be curious to hear what Coach Nagy has to say about how Trubisky looked during his Thursday press conference.
As for the rest of the injury report, here ya go:
#Bears Wednesday Injury Report: pic.twitter.com/r3AkPEOrbD
— Chicago Bears (@BearsPR) October 16, 2019
Wide receiver Taylor Gabriel (concussion) and defensive lineman Bilal Nichols (broken hand) were also listed as participating in full on Wednesday. Two starters practicing without limitations is a sign things are going in the right direction for a Bears team that needs as many breaks as it can get heading into a Week 7 showdown against the NFC South-leading Saints.
A pair of Bears reserves were listed as limited participants. Inside linebacker Joel Iyiegbuniwe (hamstring) and offensive lineman Ted Larsen (knee) practiced, but with did so with restrictions. Larsen’s status is worth keeping close tabs on, seeing that he could be in line to make a push to start at right guard with Kyle Long on season-ending injured reserve. In the meantime, Rashaad Coward is in that spot. Iyiegbuniwe missed the Bears’ Week 5 loss against the Raiders because of a hamstring issue, but Josh Woods took his snaps (which were primarily on special teams) and could be lined up to do it again.
Now, let’s see if the Bears can stack consecutive days of good news on the injury front for a change.