The first injury report of the week is out and it includes a rather large figure from the Bears defense.
Here it is:
#Bears Wednesday injury report: pic.twitter.com/TUqjlvALVL
— Chicago Bears (@BearsPR) November 6, 2019
Nose tackle Eddie Goldman did not practice today, because of a thigh injury suffered in the team’s Week 9 loss to the Eagles. The injury limited Goldman to just 11 snaps (or 12.4 percent), which is a far cry from his typical workload as the anchor of Chicago’s rush defense.
Depending on how opposing offenses attack the Bears, Goldman tends to be in on anywhere between 52 and 70 percent of the team’s defensive snaps. So to see him down at 12 percent is quite telling of how serious the injury was on Sunday.
For what it’s worth, Goldman tried to come back after suffering the injury early in the game. But it was clear Goldman was ineffective (he even committed an unnecessary penalty in the process). So with that in mind, it makes sense that Goldman was held out of practice on Wednesday.
We will continue to monitor Goldman’s practice status as the week goes on. But if Goldman stacks a couple of DNPs later in the week, the Bears will be looking at Nick Williams as the backup nose tackle if their starter can’t go. And with all due respect to Williams and the rest of the reserve interior linemen, playing without Goldman and Akiem Hicks sounds like a recipe for disaster when it comes to a run defense that has been taking its lumps of late.