NEWSLETTER
Injuries happen in football. They are inevitable. But some position groups are better equipped to handle when a player goes down. Others aren’t.
Unfortunately, the Bears’ wide receivers room isn’t one of those places where Chicago’s football team can handle a wave of injuries. Which makes this bit of news tough to swallow:
Bears reporters Adam Jahns and Zack Pearson share a pair of injury updates regarding receivers Byron Pringle and N’Keal Harry.
We’ll start with Pringle, who has a quad injury keeping him out of action. Larry Mayer (Bears team site) noting that it could keep him out for a bit. And while Head Coach Matt Eberflus later went on to add that there was optimism (via Mark Grote) Pringle could be ready for for Week 1, it sure sounds like this is something that could keep Pringle out of action for the Bears’ three preseason games. Not exactly what you’d want for a receiver who figured to be among Justin Fields’ top three options. And especially not something you wanted to see from a receiver the Bears prioritized signing early in free agency.
As for N’Keal Harry’s injury, that he needed to be helped off by teammates isn’t a good sign. Josh Schrock (NBC Sports Chicago) described it as something that “looked to be a significant leg injury.” Meanwhile, Brad Biggs (Tribune) tweeted that Harry “had difficulty putting any weight on his left leg” after being tackled by Eddie Jackson and Nicholas Morrow in a team drill. The Bears traded for Harry back in June with the hope they could catch lightning in a bottle with a post-hype sleeper on a change of scenery. A first-round pick in 2019, Harry didn’t find his groove in New England. But the hope was that he could rekindle the magic that made him a first-round pick with a clean slate. That path becomes a bit more difficult after suffering an injury that sounds quite serious.
Seeing a pair of receivers go down with serious injuries bums me out. But more importantly, it takes a bite into the options Fields has to throw to this summer. It doesn’t matter to me that expectations weren’t tremendously high for either of these players. Both receivers were getting serious reps with Fields, whose development matters more than anything else that happens at camp. That receivers he was building a rapport with won’t be available for the foreseeable future means the Bears probably need to dig into free agency. And with that in mind, we’ll sort through that pile of potential talent momentarily.
