Allen Robinson Sits Out Practice

Bears battling through a recent wave of injuries, including one to their top wide receiver and two defensive players.

Apparently it will be another week of injury concerns for the Bears as they progress through practices.

Defensive end Akiem Hicks (groin), outside linebacker Khalil Mack (foot), and now Allen Robinson (ankle) are all injury concerns this week and missed Wednesday's practice. Robinson is a new injury while Hicks missed last week's game and Mack fought through his injury. Also missing practice were tight end J.P. Holtz (quad) and linebacker Caleb Johnson (knee).

Bears coach Matt Nagy described Johnson's issue as week to week but he will not go on injured reserve.

The same is not true for right tackle Germain Ifedi. He was placed on injured reserve and will miss at least three games due to a knee injury suffered against the Raiders. Ifedi is their third tackle to go on injured reserve. Tackles Larry Borom and Teven Jenkins are not yet coming off IR, according to coach Matt Nagy.

The Bears officially put outside linebacker Jeremiah Attaochu on season-ending injured reserve with a torn pectoral muscle, a move reported on Tuesday by NFL Network.

As a result of those moves, both running back Ryan Nall and linebacker Sam Kamara have been promoted from the practice squad to the 53-man roster.

To fill empty spots on the practice squad, the Bears brought back Mack's brother Ledarius as well as tackle Dareuan Parker, who had been cut earlier. They also signed linebacker Rashad Smith, who had been re-signed and cut.

Nagy is comfortable with backup tackle Elijah Wilkinson filling in for Ifedi at starting right tackle for now and there would appear to be no need for the Bears to explore unattached veteran tackles in the marketplace. Wilkinson played in the second half against the Raiders.

"I thought he did well," Nagy said. "There's a lot of evidence of him on tape doing some really good things, in particular in the run game and then a couple times in the pass game.

"He's been great this whole time, this whole process of understanding when he first got here to where he's at right now, to understanding the depth that he helped us with and now where he's at, you know, as we go through this right tackle process. It's something that's the good part of having depth, you get a guy like him and then you have a few other guys as well, so it's good."

Playing the right side is where Wilkinson as said he's much more comfortable. He had to fill in on the left side in preseason and admitted to lack of experience and comfort with that side of the line.

Nagy is especially happy with the run blocking at the moment. The Bears had 143 yards Sunday and 331 rushing yards the last two games after beind held to 46 by Cleveland. In fact, they've been able to run the ball all season other than the Browns game. They have been at 123 yards or more rushing in every game except the Browns game.

T"he communication right now is really good amongst the offensive line and tight ends, the wide receivers as well," Nagy said. "The running backs are doing a good job with their vision."

With 16 carries by Damien Williams and 18 by Khalil Herbert Sunday, the Bears had more than 15 carries by two backs in the same game for the first time since 2010 when Matt Forte and Chester Taylor did it.

"What I think you feel the biggest difference right now with the run game is really there's a lot more runs of plus-one and plus-two (yards)," Nagy said. "You have more of those four, five, six, sevens (yards) than we've had in the past where at times there's been ones and twos.

"And so I think that helps out your second down, which can help out your third down. And that's just a total compliment to the players and the coaches for really creating that identity. Even when they know you're going to run, that's sometimes when it gets hard, but then that's where we've got to try to be one step ahead and when they think a run's coming, now you can hit them with the play-actions, the RPOs, the movements, et cetera."

As a result, the Bears have their offensive identity.

"Just a hard-nosed offense," quarterback Justin Field. "An offense that can just line up and run the ball, and just get things going, and just try to do a lot of the same stuff, and kind of just line up and play fast."

If the running game continues its success even without David Montgomery, Fields sees another benefit

"When you can get the run game going, the (line)backers start cheating up a little bit, so play-action really opens up the back end, for sure," Fields said.

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