NEWSLETTER
Injury reports have long been the bane of our existence as Bears fans. But with the season winding down and postseason football not being on the horizon, they will soon be off our radar. Even still … we’ve got an eye on these participation updates because we want to keep tabs on who is (and isn’t) playing down the stretch. Let’s face it. We’re at a point of the season in which we are watching players today who will hopefully springboard this team to a better future.
With that being said, the first injury report of Week 17 is a mixed bag.
For starters, there are eight Chicago Bears players who were full participants in Wednesday’s practice.
That’s good news.
Quarterback Justin Fields was not one of them.
That’s bad news. Also, the frogurt is cursed.
Here is what this installment of the injury report looks like:
#Bears Wednesday injury report: pic.twitter.com/yKGbkBQ3zY
— Chicago Bears (@BearsPR) December 29, 2021
Sigh. Fields practicing with limitations is an improvement over not practicing on Thursday and Friday of last week. So, I’ll gladly take that over the alternative. HOWEVER, if you’ll recall, Fields was listed as “limited” last Wednesday, too. This leaves me hesitant about having too much excitement over a Wednesday afternoon designation. Nevertheless, I’ll allow for a small bit of optimism.
Andy Dalton’s groin injury healed up nicely enough to allow him to practice in full. Because Dalton is (1) healthy and (2) resuming his QB2 duties now that he is off the COVID reserve list, he is first in line to start in place of Fields if the rookie can’t go. That would leave Nick Foles, who won the Bears’ most recent contest, as the backup if Fields can’t play. And it would also put him at QB3 if Fields is health enough to give it a full go.
Elsewhere on the injury report, Eddie Goldman (finger), Jakeem Grant Sr. (concussion), Teven Jenkins (shoulder), Darnell Mooney (ankle), and Cairo Santos (ribs) were all full-go participants at Wednesday’s practice. Nothing like getting healthy starters back in the mix to start the practice week. Same goes for reserves such as Christian Jones (finger) and Caleb Johnson (shoulder). The more healthy bodies, the merrier.
The most notable DNP came in seeing Duke Shelley (heel). Chicago just got Shelley back at the cornerback spot. And he is coming off a game where he played the most snaps among the team’s corners. Perhaps that explain why the Bears were working out a CFL all-star on Tuesday.
All in all, I suppose things could be worse for the Bears injury report. Hopefully, that sentence didn’t jinx anything.
