LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Several of the Bears’ top starters missed training camp. There have been practices where the Bears have had up to 15 key contributors on the sideline.
On defense, safeties Jaquan Brisker and Eddie Jackson and defensive end DeMarcus Walker all missed significant time in August. Meanwhile, wide receiver Chase Claypool and offensive linemen Nate Davis and Lucas Patrick are out for two or more weeks. Add in right tackle Darnell Wright and wide receiver Velus Jones Jr., and the Bears have a list of players considered day-to-day with less than two weeks to go until kickoff. against the Green Bay Packers.
But head coach Matt Eberflus provided an encouraging update Tuesday at Halsa Hall when he acknowledged that all injured players except offensive guard Teven Jenkins, who is week-to-week, are on the mend.
“Everything looks healthy right now,” Eberflus said Tuesday. “Looks good. The one guy that’s every week is Teven. Also, we’re going to improve the process as we go along.”
The Packers come to Soldier Field in 12 days, and Eberflus believes nearly all of the Bears’ walking injuries are ready to go.
“That’s what they’re saying,” Eberflus said when asked if everyone but Jenkins is on track to play in Week 1. “Everything looks good. We’re getting guys in. We’ve had a nice, long walkthrough meetings yesterday. We had Got the same thing today. And the guys are looking out there. They’re ramping. The guys from outside are starting to do a lot of ground-based stuff. Getting in speeds and cut and move. We’ll see where it goes, but it’s looking good right now.”
The Bears injury issues created sustainability issues on both sides of the ball.
Since Yannick Ngakoue arrived and started ramping up, the Bears’ defense, which believed it had the pieces to be dominant in 2023, has had zero practices where all the important parts were completely healthy.
The rebuilt offensive line took less than 10 padded snaps together before Jenkins went down with a leg injury that could cause him to miss time in September. The projected Week 1 starting offensive line is taking zero padded snaps, with 12 days to go until kickoff.
The improvement in the health of the Bears is a good sight, but that trend should continue for the next two weeks as both units play catch-up, trying to build chemistry on the field.
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