Yannick Ngakoue’s season is over. Bears head coach Matt Eberflus announced on Wednesday that the defensive end broke his ankle near the end of the team’s game against the Lions on Sunday. He will require surgery and will head to IR.
With Ngakoue out, the Bears will lean on other players to get after the quarterback, both on the inside and outside. DeMarcus Walker, who began the season as a starting defensive end will likely return to a starting role. Walker had bumped down to the team's second pass-rushing unit after Montez Sweat joined the team. The Bears were also using Walker more as a defensive tackle on obvious passing downs. In turn, that will mean more snaps for rookie DTs Gervon Dexter and Zacch Pickens.
"Everybody’s going to have an uptick in reps because of the loss of Yannick," Eberflus said. "It’s important for those guys to lean into the opportunity and have vision for the opportunity and vision for the plays you’re gonna make. This is what the walkthrough practice today is about. It’s about guys visualizing themselves in the gameplan, making plays in the game today and then moving forward, making the corrections and moving onto the next day."
It appears Ngakoue hurt himself on a second-and-five play on the team's second-to-last defensive drive of the game when Tremaine Edmunds rolled into his ankle in pursuit of David Montgomery.
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The Bears signed Ngakoue to a one-year, $10.5 million deal over the summer in an effort to bolster the team's pass rush.
Ngakoue recorded four sacks, seven QB hits and six TFLs in 13 games this season.