Bears Guessing on Cardinals QB
The Bears find themselves in much the same situation as two weeks ago.
They can't be certain they'll be facing one of the more athletic passers in the NFL because Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury says his quarterback Kyler Murray is questionable after suffering an ankle injury Oct. 28 against Green Bay. Murray has already missed three games and had a bye week, besides.
The Bears didn't get to face Lamar Jackson and lost instead with Baltimore's Tyler Huntley at quarterback, and no one was certain until 90 minutes before kickoff whether they would face Jackson due to an illness.
Asked if he cared which quarterback defensive coordinator Sean Desai and his players would go against, Bears coach Matt Nagy had a curious response.
"I don't at all," Nagy said. "I know what we're expecting. I'm sure there's a lot of other coaches, you know, coach (Kliff) Kingsbury's probably the same way.
"You know you have to internally decide what you think it is."
The injury report is pretty vague when it comes to questionable players.
The Bears have a questionable player of their own in inside linebacker Roquan Smith, and after a hamstring injury 10 days ago it would seem rushing it a bit to expect he'll start. However he went through a limited practice on Friday.
No one can be certain whether more than a month is long enough to come back from an ankle injury like Murray had because he hasn't gone through a full practice since before the injury.
"I go off of what we think is going to happen and until they're declared out you never know," Nagy said.
If Murray is declared out, then it's Colt McCoy playing quarterback for Arizona and Nagy said the Bears have a "Plan B" ready for a less mobile passer, though not one entirely stationary.
"I've always had a lot of respect for him the way he plays the game," Nagy said. "He's gritty. He's smart. He's a competitor. He's a winner. So nothing shocks me for him to come out there.
"And that's exactly why they got him was for that role, and he fulfilled that. So whether it's him playing or Kyler, we have a ton or respect for both of those quarterbacks."
McCoy has guided the Cardinals to a 2-1 record in Murray's absence, and the only loss came when A.J. Green didn't turn around in time to see the winning touchdown pass against Green Bay coming right to him with no Packer defender capable of stopping it. He turned too late and the ball then got tipped off his hands and in the air behind him for an interception.
Donnie Druin of All Cardinals reported earlier in the week Murray actually has taken some live reps this week, so it wasn't a case of the Arizona starter just doing individual skill work and then watching practice. Murray was quoted as saying his status is "hopeful" for starting.
"Kyler has had some time off, but at the same point in time, you never know," Nagy said. "You gotta go off of what they're saying, so we always got to plan for the starter."
Arizona's injury report has another twist and that is wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins.
Hopkins has been recovering from a hamstring injury suffered in the same game as Murray's and after a bye week last week speculation had been he would return. Hopkins went through limited practices on Wednesday and Thursday, but instead of stepping up to a full practice on Friday he was held entirely out of practice.
Hopkins is questionable for the game. This combination of not practicing Friday and limited earlier with a questionable designation could mean anything from Hopkins is fine and they just wanted to make sure he doesn't aggravate it to he might not play.
The only player declared out by the Cardinals is safety James Wiggins. Offensive lineman Justin Pugh (calf) and cornerback Byron Murphy (foot) are the only Cardinals questionable besides Hopkins and Murray.
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