Nathan Peterman Now Bears Backup QB
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It was a short season and a strange ending to it for Bears backup quarterback Trevor Siemian.
Coach Matt Eberflus announced Siemian was going on injured reserve for what was the team reported as an oblique injury, and he is having surgery to repair it. Nathan Peterman has taken backup snaps this week behind Justin Fields.
Just a week ago Siemian was good enough to start and play an entire game after the injury occurred during warmups.
"So Trevor elected to do surgery on his oblique so he’s going to be moving to IR and Peterman will be the backup for the game," Eberflus said.
Siemian took pain-killing medicine before the game, but not a shot. Then he played through it and couldn't practice this week. Siemian even made light of his injury after the game, and said he felt a bit guilty because he simply had an oblique injury and was thinking about sitting briefly, but saw several players around the locker room who were playing despite health concerns.
As it turned the injury was worse than he thought it was immediately after the game.
"Yeah, I mean, he got the MRIs and all that stuff and they said that you could or couldn’t do surgery and he elected to do it." Eberflus said. "He wants to, going forward, be able to zip the ball and that was a big part of it. Obviously, the oblique is a big part of throwing the pass.
"So yeah, I don’t know if he re-injured it or however that was–when he dove–or the timetable there."
Siemian dove head first on his stomach toward the sticks on wet artificial turf during the game but came up short of the first down. After the game, he confirmed he felt it when he dove.
Siemian finished his season 15 of 26 for 184 yards with a touchdown and an interception. All but one of his throws came in Sunday's loss. He had a 5-yard completion earlier on one attempt in the loss to Dallas.
"He was great," Eberflus said. "Of course I’m in all those meetings and he was outstanding. Supportive, talking things out, talking plays out in the meeting. You know, this is how he sees it. What about this? What about this? Giving suggestions.
" Super smart, great teammate, always encouraging to Justin and everybody in the room. He was a joy to be around and is an excellent, excellent pro."
Peterman is 71 of 135 for 573 yards in 10 NFL appearances and four starts. He has three TD passes and 12 interceptions, all but five of his passes coming for Buffalo in 2017 and 2018.
The new third quarterback is former Green Bay backup Tim Boyle, who is on the active roster after being signed off of Detroit's practice squad.
Boyle is 64 of 98 for 541 yards with three TDs and six interceptions in 16 games with three starts. He has been in the NFL since signing as an undrafted free agent in 2018.
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