Bears' Backfield Takes Another Hit With RB Placed on IR Amid Kyle Monangai Injury

The Chicago Bears' backfield was already dealing with an injury to Kyle Monangai and now they've lost another running back.

The Bears announced on Thursday that they have placed running back Zavier Scott on injured reserve because of the thumb injury suffered in the Week 8 win over the Seattle Seahawks.

We did not hear of Scott suffering an injury during the game and first found out about his issue when he was listed on the injury report on Wednesday.

Brad Biggs of The Chicago Tribune reports that while Scott was listed with a wrist injury, it's actually a thumb. Biggs adds that Scott is probably looking at a minimum stay on IR, which is four games.

Scott was signed to the practice squad after cutdown day and has been serving as the team's No. 3 running back behind D'Andre Swift and Roschon Johnson while Monangai has been out.

Scott hasn't played a snap on offense over four games, but he did become a key member of the special teams unit, which is part of the reason why he was recently promoted to the active roster.

Kyle Monangai injury update

Chicago Bears running back Kyle Monangai. — Chicago Bears running back Kyle Monangai (25) runs with the ball against the New York Jets during the second half at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Monangai has been out for four games with his turf toe injury and, at least for now, he's on track to sit out yet again in Week 9 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Monangai was listed as a non-participant once again in practice on Wednesday. The injury report was an estimate, but that is status quo for him because he has not practiced once since suffering his injury in Week 4 against the New York Jets.

“No, I think every time a player has an Injury, you don’t know how a player will bounce back from that. Obviously, we didn’t think it was warranted to put him on IR, and yet we’re hopefully we’ll get him back sooner rather than later," head coach Ben Johnson said when asked about Monangai's status last week.

We'll see if Monangai can finally get back to practice on Thursday, but if not, he's almost certainly headed for another absence.

Who will replace Scott?

Chicago Bears running back Salvon Ahmed. — Chicago Bears running back Salvon Ahmed (36) runs with the ball against the Cincinnati Bengals in the first half at Paycor Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Barring the Bears signing another running back, the last man standing other than Swift and Johnson is Salvon Ahmed.

Ahmed has been on the practice squad all season long but has not gotten into a game yet.

The veteran running back had an impressive training camp and preseason and was actually a better runner than Johnson, but Ahmed's lack of special teams ability led to the Bears keeping Johnson over him.

And that could lead to Chicago potentially going out-of-house for Scott's replacement if Monangai can't go, but we'll have to wait and see if that's indeed the case.

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