My hope for every preseason game is that the Chicago Bears can leave as healthy as they came in.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t look like that will be the case tonight.
The following players were some sort of dinged up in during a first half in which the Bears took a 17-0 lead against the Seahawks on this Thursday edition of ESPN’s Monday Night Football broadcast:
There isn’t a such thing as a “good” injury, but these piling up are bad news for these Bears.
Adams is a top linebacker option behind Roquan Smith on the depth chart. And if Adams isn’t available, an already worrisome group of linebackers looks that much more troublesome. Johnson was usable depth, but that knee injury was looking gnarly and I hope it isn’t a season-ender. That he was already ruled as doubtful suggests it is bad enough to most likely keep him out of the rest of an August exhibition game. The Ebner injury is a real bummer on multiple fronts. Not only is Ebner a multi-purpose threat out of the backfield with some nice juke, he also could’ve figured into the punt return derby. So long as Dazz Newsome’s troubles continue, that role will be wide open.
And to further complicate the injury concerns, The Athletic’s Kevin Fishbain caught this:
Gulp! That’s Chicago’s fullback in a cast. In the grand scheme of things, the fullback position isn’t the most important. But the Bears were implementing Khari Blasingame as a blocker and receiver. And I was looking forward to seeing how a modern-thinking offensive play-caller would mix in a position that wasn’t used during the last three years of the previous regime.
For the record, it wasn’t ALL bad for the Bears. And not just because they have a first-half lead, either. Justin Fields – in a limited role – looked perfectly cromulent in leading an opening-drive that finished with a score. No, it wasn’t a touchdown. But I won’t complain about drives that end with points. Especially when they have highlights like this:
Hopefully, that’s the first of many Fields connections with Cole Kmet. And here’s to that not being the last time we see a designed rollout for QB1. Putting an athletic quarterback on the move results in a positive gain? Whodathunkit!?
We’ll be back with more after the game. Ideally, with the Bears being in one piece from a health perspective.