The Bears announced starters Darnell Mooney and Roquan Smith wouldn’t suit up for their Super Wild Card Sunday game against the Saints.
Losing two starters before taking the flight to New Orleans stings. And so does news that rookie cornerback Jaylon Johnson will join them among the inactive players.
Johnson is missing his fourth consecutive game with a shoulder injury. The rookie corner suffered the injury in the second half of the Bears’ Dec. 13 win against the Texans. Bears Head Coach Matt Nagy has insisted the injury wasn’t a season-ender. And seeing Johnson as a limited participant this week in practice gave hope that he could return for today’s game. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the cards.
Altogether, the Bears are down two starting cornerbacks with Johnson and slot corner Buster Skrine unavailable. That leaves 2020 fifth-round pick Kindle Vildor replacing Johnson again. And second-year cornerback Duke Shelley lining up in the slot in place of Skrine. That’s less than ideal when facing a fully operational Saints offense with Michael Thomas returning to action.
As for the entire list of inactive players, here you go:
Inactives for #CHIvsNO: pic.twitter.com/sBtS3Mnit9
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) January 10, 2021
We’ll have more for you in Pre-Gamin’ before kickoff.