NEWSLETTER
It’s been six days since the Bears last played a game. And by the time kickoff rolls around, they’ll have had 10 days between live football action.
But who will be available for Matt Nagy’s bunch on Sunday is up-in-the-air after the first installment of this week’s injury report was released.
The good news is that not only did Justin Fields practice (albeit, with limitations), he was looking better than expected in the opinion of one reporter with an eyes-on account:
During the brief portion of practice that was open to the media today, Bears QB Justin Fields looked better than I expected him to. Was moving around well and delivering the ball with normal zip. We'll see how the week evolves.
— Dan Wiederer (@danwiederer) December 1, 2021
That Fields looked good moving around and was “delivering the ball with normal zip” is the most encouraging thing we’ll read today. Especially when it comes to the Bears injury report. Because the rest of it is a big bag of ruh roh.
Brace yourselves:
#Bears Wednesday injury report: pic.twitter.com/N5VPUvL6Ap
— Bears Communications (@BearsPR) December 1, 2021
The biggest surprise on the injured list might be tight end Cole Kmet. A groin injury kept Kmet from practicing on Wednesday. The Notre Dame product caught 8 passes for 65 yards in the win in Detroit last week and played on 72.7 percent of the offense’s snaps. That seems in line with his regular workload. Hopefully, holding Kmet out of practice is a precautionary move more than anything. But I suppose we’ll see as the other injury reports drop later in the week.
Altogether, eight Bears players didn’t practice on Wednesday. Of that group, five are starters. And in the case of Mario Edwards Jr., he is the next-man-up on the depth chart behind an injured starter. What a mess that injury report looks like, and after an extended layover no less. The hope tends to be that extended breaks allow teams to get healthy upon their return. But between this and the Bears’ first injury report after the bye, Chicago’s football team must not have gotten that memo.
