Bears Tackle Situation Strengthened
The general theme to Matt Nagy's injury reports daily has been it's still early.
As Yogi Berra once warned, "it gets late early."
Still, there was no panic at Halas Hall even with both starting safeties and the first five offensive tackles sidelined, but now the offensive line situation could begin to solidify with announcement Monday tackle Elijah Wilkinson has returned from the reserve/COVID-19 list.
The Bears announced this along with the return of linebacker Christian Jones and long snapper Pat Scales. Tight end Cole Kmet is the big winner in all of this since he won't need to keep long-snapping.
Only nose tackle Eddie Goldman remains on the COVID-19 list after all four went on it within a day of each other. If any other players who were among 21 players sidelined for injuries, the COVID list or given a "load management" day off by Nagy return, the situation could take a large turn in favor of the Bears.
Nagy has maintained all along, "...it'll all work itself out. I really believe that."
The truth is it really is early even though Tuesday signifies the end of the second week. Last year at this time the Bears hadn't even begun to put on pads yet.
The difference, of course, is other teams then weren't in pads. Now, the injuries are a setback when other teams are healthy.
"But at the same point and time, I think what happens if you start getting into a panic mode there's a lot of other teams that are going through some similar situations and I think it's all about how you handle it," Nagy said.
The Bears merely plugged in offensive linemen far down on the depth chart for several days of practice, guards Alex Bars and Arlington Hambright, and moved forward.
The right guard and right tackle positions will be the only ones in question if Wilkinson is back, although he does not have starting experience at left tackle. Wilkinson is the swing tackle behind Teven Jenkins and Germain Ifedi, who haven't practiced this training camp. Jenkins has a back injury and Ifedi a hip-flexor problem.
For Jones, a return couldn't come soon enough. Since he sat out, the Bears picked up linebacker Alec Ogletree and all he has done is make six interceptions in four practices. Ogletree will have a challenge making the team, though. He hasn't been much of a special teams performer for four years and the Bears need their backup linebackers to be heavily involved in special teams play.
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