Bears Camp Observations: Back Shortage
The Bears could need a bit of rapid healing if they're to accomplish some of the goals they want to achieve in Cleveland Saturday night when they face the Browns.
It starts at running back.
They had neither Khalil Herbert nor Trestan Ebner practicing on Tuesday after both suffered minor injuries. At least, they're suspected to be minor injuries because coach Matt Eberflus hasn't revealed what they are and when that happens they're considered minor injuries.
Starting running back David Montgomery had a slight injury earlier in camp, was held out of the Seattle game but has been practicing since and did again on Tuesday. However, Darrynton Evans and Demontre Tuggle took the bulk of the carries.
"We're going to see how he goes his week and then we'll go from there—we'll see where he is," Eberflus said of Montgomery. "If he's working and he feels good, then we'll reassess later in the week. But we feel good about where he is right now."
Montgomery has made it clear he wants to play and can benefit from it even though it's preseason.
"Just getting hit and just actually getting tackled, seeing different looks, kind of getting the pace of the game," he explained. "It's completely different from practice. So just being able to get live looks and get hit is really the main thing for me.
Eberflus realizes a back has only so many carries. It's like watching the mileage on a car.
"I think you're always mindful of that when you have guys that carry the ball, for sure, and we will be mindful of that as well," Eberflus said. "You've always got to be understanding of the hits that one particular guy is taking or two guys and be smart about that."
Running back is not their only injury issue.
Wide receiver continues to be the area hit hardest. Byron Pringle, Tajae Sharpe and N'Keal Harry have been out, Pringle with a quad injury and Harry with an ankle injury. The Bears haven't said Sharpe's issue.
On Tuesday, another problem cropped up as Velus Jones Jr. was held out of practice after making his preseason debut against Seattle last week.
In the secondary, some players who had been injured have returned, such as safety Dane Cruikshank, but safety Jaquan Brisker will be out possibly until the opener or later with a thumb injury.
Slot cornerback Tavon Young hasn't practiced in ages due to what Eberflus called a lower leg injury. And backup slot cornerback Jaylon Jones has joined Young on the side now with an unspecified injury. Jones has had extensive first-team experience when Kyler Gordon and Young were unavailable.
Gordon continues to work with the first team at slot cornerback and when he is at that position then Kindle Vildor plays left cornerback.
Eberflus has repeatedly stressed the importance of the slot cornerback in his system.
"It's just a hot spot for us," he said. "It's a guy who does a lot of different things; he plays a variation of coverages, we pressure him a lot. You go all the way back to (Tampa Bay's) Ronde Barber.
"He's the guy that really made it that way for our system, and we've had some good ones over the course of some years, but it is a hot spot. It's between the strongside passing strength hash and numbers player, covering the slot receiver and doing, like I said, a lot of different things. So that guy's a very important guy for us."
There was one other positive for the Bears in the injury department. Center Lucas Patrick was running the conditioning hill behind the northeast practice field. Patrick has been out with a broken thumb since Day 2 of camp.
Practice Highlights
Lining Up: Status quo on the offensive line with starters, but there was a change with backups for a portion of practice. Riley Reiff moved back to left tackle backup from right tackle, and Shon Coleman played backup right tackle. The Bears had cut backup tackle Julien Davenport. ... Vildor played both left cornerback with starters and backup right cornerback. ... With Smith now practicing at weak side linebacker, Matthew Adams returned to the backup defense except when they were in base 4-3. Rookie linebacker Jack Sanborn took some of the plays with the second team defense.
It's Practice, Man: Jaylon Johnson picked off a throw from Fields that Darnell Mooney tipped up into the air, then when trapped Johnson tried to lateral it out to Roquan Smith, who was unusually active for a guy in his first practice back with the first team. The lateral wasn't exactly legal, about 5 yards forward. ... Smith started the practice by knifing in and stopping a run as teammates went wild. ... Backup tight end Chase Allen had a big day with a touchdown catch on a deep throw over the middle from Nathan Peterman. Allen was wide open in busted coverage. Earlier, he took a short pass straight up the middle looking like a tank as would-be tacklers bounced off him. ... Justin Fields started strong in the first full-squad work when he burned a laser throw to the hands of Equanimeous St. Brown for 18 yards cutting to the outside. ... Later Fields followed with a perfect throw over traffic on a seam route to Montgomery for a TD against 11 defenders.
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