The list of Bears standing on the sidelines with injuries continued to grow on Sunday as the Bears practiced at Soldier Field on Sunday. Head coach Matt Eberflus maintained that none of the injuries are serious– despite some lengthy absences– but admitted it’s a little concerning that so many key figures have missed some significant time.
Eberflus listed some obvious reasons why he wants as many projected starters on the field at the same time over training camp. Players need to get used to communicating with each other. They need to build continuity since there are so many new faces. Coaches need time on task with each player so that they can get a better idea of each man’s strengths and weaknesses. That will help coaches tweak schemes to fit those strengths, and adjust individual drills to work on the weaknesses.
Most of the absences are on the defensive side of the ball. On Sunday, Tremaine Edmunds, Jaquan Brisker, Kyler Gordon, DeMarcus Walker, Jack Sanborn and Dylan Cole all missed with unknown ailments. Of that group, only Cole is not projected to be a starter, meaning the defense was without nearly half of its first-team unit. Eberflus explained how that many absences prevents the team from working on certain things during practice.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Chicago sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
“We have a thing called four equals one where you rush four guys and they have to play off each other and cover for each other so the rush lanes are good in the pocket,” Eberflus said. “We haven’t had a chance to go do that during practice.”
The Bears are still early in the summer and haven’t played a preseason game yet, so it’s not time to slam the panic button just yet. It’s admittedly curious that “short-term” injuries have kept DeMarcus Walker out for five days, Nate Davis out for six days and Dante Pettis out for the entirety of training camp, but this is also the time of year when teams will err on the side of caution with anything related to players’ health. For instance, a minor strain could sideline a player in the first week of August, but a guy might be able to play through that same minor strain in the regular season.
Along those lines, defensive tackle Justin Jones isn’t worried at all about players missing a handful of practices now.
“Every guy, that's their body, that's their vehicle,” Jones said. “That's their business right there, so you have to take care of it as such. I want guys to be able to take care of themselves and be able to get back on the field when they're ready to be 100% because that's what we need.”
