The attrition of the preseason caught up with the [Bears](https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears) early last week, when they were forced to sign two cornerbacks and two safeties just to make it through the rest of training camp, and ramped up during Sunday night’s game against the Bills.
Here are three position [groups](https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2025/08/17/as-bears-cb-jaylon-johnson-dl-shemar-turner-progress-toward-return-cb-terell-smith-exits-with-knee-injury) that look thin heading into the preseason finale Friday in Kansas City:
**• Cornerback.** The Bears got some good news before the game, when two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Jaylon Johnson did some light work as he works his way back from a leg injury suffered before training camp begin. The position room’s mood soured, though, when Terell Smith was carted off the field with a non-contact knee injury.
The Bears were bracing for the worst — that he’d be lost for the season.
“Smitty’s was the most concerning of that bunch,” coach Ben Johnson said late Sunday night. “That didn’t look good. Our thoughts and prayers are with him going forward.”
Smith had taken snaps with the first team last week in practice. If he’s out and Johnson works his way back to health before Week 1, the Bears will have to decide whether to start Tyrique Stevenson or Nahshon Wright opposite Johnson. The two have been engaged in one of the few intense starting battles of training camp.
Starting slot cornerback Kyler Gordon remains week-to-week with a hamstring injury, while rookie Zah Frazier has yet to practice for personal reasons.
**• Running back.** Starter D’Andre Swift was a healthy scratch Sunday. Second-stringer Roschon Johnson, third-stringer Travis Homer and rookie Kyle Monangai all sat out with injuries. The Bears planned to lean on Deion Hankins, only he was hurt while reaching for a Caleb Williams pass in the fourth quarter.
That left running backs Ian Wheeler and Brittain Brown to handle the Bears’ carries the rest of the game. Neither has carried the ball in the regular season before. Brown had been with the team for less than a week, while Wheeler, a “Hard Knocks” darling, spent last season recovering from a torn ACL suffered in the preseason finale.
Sunday would have been an important game for Monangai, the seventh-round rookie who impressed his bosses with his preparedness, hard-running ways and willingness to block. He left practice Friday with an undisclosed injury that Johnson claims is not serious.
Still, it will be interesting to see if the Bears add a running back this week just to get through Friday night’s exhibition game. Jamaal Williams, who ran for 17 touchdowns under Johnson in 2022, tried out for the Bears earlier this month and remains unsigned.
• **Defensive end.** Austin Booker, who led the Bears with four sacks through the first two games, hurt his knee, apparently on special teams, and left Sunday’s game. Dominique Robinson, who Bears coaches singled out as one of their most improved players during OTAs, left with an ankle injury that’s not believed to be serious.
The Bears are still trying to find a defensive end who can play on obvious passing downs while Dayo Odeyingbo moves inside. Booker doesn’t fit the mold of a typical Dennis Allen edge rusher — he’s shorter than Allen would like — but the defensive coordinator has been impressed with his physicality thus far.
Perhaps second-rounder Shemar Turner could provide pass-rush oomph from the defensive tackle spot, allowing Odeyingbo to stay at end on pass downs. Turner is inching closer to a return after getting hurt on the first day of training camp.