DETROIT -- The Bears' defense will play its first game at full strength since Week 1 Sunday against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field.
Linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, who has missed the last two games with a knee injury, is active and will play against the Lions. He joins a defense that recently got safeties Eddie Jackson and Jaquan Brisker back, and added defensive end Montez Sweat at the trade deadline.
This is the healthiest the Bears have been all season.
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Quarterback Justin Fields will return Sunday after missing four games with a dislocated right thumb. The third-year quarterback will play behind a healthy offensive line that is getting right guard Nate Davis back. Davis' return from a high-ankle sprain will shift Teven Jenkins back to left guard and move Cody Whitehair to the bench.
Starting running back Khalil Herbert will also be back after missing five games with an ankle injury. He'll join a running game that has found its groove with D'Onta Foreman. Foreman, who was questionable on the final injury report with an ankle injury, is also good to go.
"I mean, shoot, it’s just going to be a heck of a group effort," Herbert said Friday. "We’ve got guys in our room that can take it the distance and punish the defense. One guy goes out, another guy goes in. They’re going to be tired, but we’re going to be fresh. I feel like that’s a lot to defend."
Bears Analysis
Second-year wide receiver Velus Jones Jr. is inactive for the second consecutive week after back-to-back games with critical errors.
"If somebody sits down because of penalty or inconsistent play and somebody comes up because they are more consistent, that’s where it is," head coach Matt Eberflus said of Jones last week. "We are always going to make the best decision for our roster to win the game.”
With three straight NFC North games coming up, the healthy 3-7 Bears have a golden opportunity to make a late run.
That starts Sunday in Detroit against a red-hot Lions team that is fresh off a blistering 41-point offensive performance against the Los Angeles Chargers.