QB and Defensive Help Arrive for Bears
The recent injury epidemic has forced changes by the Bears at quarterback and elsewhere.
Quarterback Trevor Seimian was held out of Wednesday's practice due to the oblique injury he suffered in warmups prior to starting against the New York Jets. With Justin Fields still practicing only on a limited basis Wednesday, the Bears felt the need to bring in another quarterback with experience in their offense and signed former Green Bay Packers backup Tim Boyle off of Detroit's practice squad.
They also raided the Arizona Cardinals practice squad and signed defensive lineman Andrew Brown, while placing safety Dane Cruikshank on injured reserve.
"We're doing it for precaution to make sure we're covering all of our bases and we're squared away with that and Ryan (Poles) and his staff did that recently," coach Matt Eberlus said. "And it's really because of the familiarity (Boyle) has with Luke, obviously being in Green Bay from 18 to 20 there, so that's squared away there."
Boyle never started an NFL game until leaving the Packers after 2019 and 2020. He started three games last year for the Lions and they lost all three as he was 61 of 94 (64.9%) and had three touchdown passes to six interceptions with a 63.5 passer rating.
At Green Bay, Boyle had only four pass attempts with three completions in two seasons backing up Aaron Rodgers. He retained backup duties in 2020 even though the Packers had drafted Jordan Love in the first round.
Brown is a 6-foot-3, 290-pound lineman who played end in the Cardinals' 3-4 and last year in the Chargers' 3-4 and was a tackle in the Bengals' 4-3 in 2019 and part of 2020. He hadn't been in any games this season but has two career sacks and has been in 23 games with one start.
With Cruikshank and Eddie Jackson both going on IR, they've been on the hunt for secondary help and on Tuesday had signed former 49ers safety Adrian Colbert to their practice squad. He is a 6-2, 205-pounder who was a seventh-round draft pick by the 49ers in 2017 and has been with Miami, the New York Giants, Cleveland and the New York Jets. He has played in 39 games with 22 starts and has 109 career tackles.
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