A pair of Chicago Bears players have already been ruled out for the team’s Week 13 Thanksgiving throwdown against the Detroit Lions.
Safety Elijah Hicks and offensive lineman Ryan Bates will not play in Thursday’s game.
That’s it. This is the full extent of the final injury report leading into this week’s divisional showdown against Detroit. All things considered, I’ve seen worse injury reports. And I have definitely seen worse injury reports on short weeks with quick turnarounds. The Bears are pretty much at full strength heading into this one. As a fan, you can’t ask for much more from an injury report when your favorite team is heading into battle against the NFC’s top seed.
Chicago Bears Injury Report — Week 13
Elijah Hicks suffered an ankle injury against the Green Bay Packers in Week 11 and it was serious enough to keep him out of action in Week 12 against the Minnesota Vikings. Hicks’ injury was serious enough to lead the Bears to re-sign safety Adrian Colbert and add him to the practice squad last week. Colbert was elevated from the practice squad to the active roster last week and played on 42 percent of the team’s special teams snaps. You can expect Chicago to do the same this week, which means Jonathan Owens (who played on all 71 of the team’s defensive snaps in Week 12) will return to the starting lineup again.
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Offensive lineman Ryan Bates took a step back on Wednesday’s injury report. Bates, who was a limited participant on Monday and Tuesday, was downgraded and did not participate in the team’s walk-through in any capacity. Concussion protocol can be tough to navigate. So, with that in mind, I hope Bates will be OK after the Bears’ mini-bye that will take place between the end of Thursday’s game against the Lions and the team’s Week 14 matchup on Dec. 8 against the San Francisco 49ers.