Bears See Offensive Problems as Bigger Than Replacing One Blocker

A Bears offense mired near the bottom of the league is about to take on a different look, although it's coming at the cost of putting guard Kyle Long on injured reserve for the fourth time in four seasons.

Quarterback Mitchell Trubisky threw at practice Monday for the first time since before his left shoulder injury Sept. 29, while wide receiver Taylor Gabriel is also returning to the lineup after getting over a concussion suffered Sept. 23 against Washington.

The Bears' running game could conceivably get a boost, as well, with Long going on IR after ineffective play. His replacement, guard Ted Larsen, was over a knee injury enough to practice on Monday, as well.

Considering the Bears are 30th in the league on offense — right where they were when John Fox was fired as coach in 2018 — any kind of change would be welcome. The Trubisky-to-Gabriel connection in particular was starting to click before the injuries.

Gabriel caught three touchdown passes in a quarter against the Washington Redskins before his concussion.

"The one thing that Taylor brings is he has that one element of downfield speed that helps out, so you're able to take the top off of some defenses with him," coach Matt Nagy said. "And then he's one of those wide receivers for us, like Allen Robinson, he's got experience. So there's a calming in the huddle that you understand that he knows what to do versus certain coverages.

"And he's coming off a pretty good game in Washington, and unfortunately got hurt."

Gabriel didn't get to make the trip to London, which didn't turn out too great anyway with the 24-21 loss to Oakland.

"I was bummed that I couldn't go to London to be around my guys, to support my guys and be around those guys, and be positive, a great attitude," he said. "They went down there, they fought hard. we didn’t get the win, but at the end of the day to come back like that and to stay together as a team.

"It just shows you what kind of guys we have in this locker room."

Gabriel said he started to feel normal after the concussion during the Bears' bye week last week, but just hadn't progressed enough to play the previous week against Oakland.

On Monday, Trubisky was able to pass to Gabriel, Allen Robinson and the first team receivers. However, Nagy wasn't about to confirm Trubisky's starting status in what now seems as a mere formality.

The Bears have already put third quarterback Tyler Bray back on the practice squad, so it's obvious they're planning on using Trubisky.

"He was throwing the ball so I thought he looked good," Nagy said of Trubisky. "But we'll see as the week goes exactly how he feels and where he's at."

There was no number limit on Trubisky's throws, but then again the injury is to his left, non-throwing shoulder.

Nor will Nagy attach any rules about not running or avoiding hits.

"If he ends up playing, if he's able to play, then he plays," Nagy said. "It's like dealing with my son playing youth football. If he's hurt and he's going to get the OK to play, you can't tell somebody to play a game and not get hit. You can't do it.

"If you're OK to play a game, then you're OK to get hit. It's pretty simple; for me it is."

Putting Long on IR came as no real surprise considering the criticism his play lately had received. Nagy described the hip injury to Long as a nagging one which developed over time.

"There's wear and tear," Nagy said. 'He's been in the league a little while, too. You get some of that. It's something that, for him, for where we were at, it was the best decision that we can make.

"These are decisions that we gotta make. It was collaborative for all of us."

Nagy said there is no second-guessing how the team handled Long with training camp practices. Long was able to work out virtually every day and they didn't hold him back as they had done so often in other years when he was coming off injuries.

The difference in Long's game was visible on tape, Nagy confirmed.

"There's plays that jump out where that doesn't really seem like him," Nagy said.

The Bears' options at guard are veteran backup Ted Larsen, backup right tackle Rashaad Coward and promoting practice squad guard Alex Bars. Larsen practiced Monday after missing the trip to London with a knee injury.

"You've got one veteran in Ted Larsen that's done it for a while," Nagy said. "He's started several games. And you've got Coward who, again, we transitioned over from defense. And then you've got a young guy in Alex Bars.

"Between the three of them I think it will be fun for us to kind of work through what decision, where we want to go with that."

Regardless, Nagy called it presumptuous to believe a different guard than Long is going to make all the difference in uplifting a running attack currently struggling at No. 26 in the league.

"It's really easy to just go ahead and say, is it because of one person?" Nagy said. "I can clear it up right now and tell you it's not because of one person. I don't know where that goes with whoever that next person is but we know there's a lot more to our run game than one person, for instance Kyle Long, there's a lot more to it than him."

Twitter@BearsOnMaven