Bears look to stay atop NFC North as they gear up for Steelers showdown
The Chicago Bears' secondary has been shorthanded this season. Now, the linebacker corps will be extremely short-handed as the Bears prepare for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
What we know:
Friday's injury report was not kind to the Bears.
Tremaine Edmunds, TJ Edwards and Noah Sewell – the Bears' top three linebackers on their depth chart – were ruled out for Sunday's game. The Bears also ruled out Travis Homer and Roschon Johnson, leaving them with D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai as the two healthy running backs.
The three didn't practice on Wednesday or on Thursday, which created concern for their availability this weekend. They were officially ruled out on Sunday when they didn't practice on Friday.
Edmunds' absence will be felt in both the run and pass game. He is currently tied for second on the Bears with four interceptions on the season, and also has nine pass breakups, three tackles for loss, three quarterback hits, a sack and 89 total tackles. This has come while playing middle linebacker as opposed to the outside with Edwards missing time.
"When you're kind of in the middle, there's a lot of communication and things that have to occur, and you're able to kind of take a little bit of that off his plate and he is a little bit more free to just go play," Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said Thursday. "I think that's been good for him. So, I think he's adjusted to the position switch pretty easily."
The entire second level of the Bears' defense will turn to its second- and third-string players.
One notable development is that Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon, who are on injured reserve and had their 21-day practice windows activated in the past two weeks, were both full participants in Friday's practice. They might play on Sunday, but that's to be determined with two games in five days.
"We'll see," Bears head coach Ben Johnson said of Gordon and Johnson's status for Sunday.
What's next:
The Bears have three healthy linebackers on their active roster: D'Marco Jackson, Amen Ogbongbemiga and rookie Ruben Hyppolite II.
These three will most likely see the most time on Sunday against Pittsburgh at linebacker.
Jackson has played 70 percent of the Bears' special teams snaps and just 32 snaps on defense. Ogbongbemiga has been available for just two games this season after starting the year on injured reserve and has played 35 snaps on special teams. Hyppolite, the fourth-round pick out of Maryland, has played 18 snaps on defense and 82 on special teams. Jackson and Hyppolite might see the bulk of the defensive snaps at linebacker.
Outside of the three healthy linebackers, the Bears also have Carl Jones Jr. and Jalen Reeves-Maybin, who was signed this past week, on the practice squad. Jones has played 117 snaps on special teams, but none on defense. Reeves-Maybin started 14 games for the Lions at linebacker, but is a special teams ace who was a Pro Bowler and a second-team All-Pro as a special teamer.
The Bears have until 3 pm Saturday to make a roster move or two in order to add to the 53-man roster.
The issue is how the Bears also need to active a running back with Johnson and Homer out. This means the Bears will most likely activate Jones Jr. and Brittain Brown for Sunday's game. However, that remains to be seen.
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