Bear Digest

More horrible Bears injury news challenges Dennis Allen's creativity

No Jaylon Johnson, Tremaine Edmunds, Kyler Gordon and a few other starters means once again the abilities of coordinator Dennis Allen to adjust will be tested.
Gene Chamberlain|
With Tremaine Edmunds out now for at least the next four games with a groin injury, the Bears' list of defensive starters out keeps growing.
With Tremaine Edmunds out now for at least the next four games with a groin injury, the Bears' list of defensive starters out keeps growing. | David Banks-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

If the Bears go on to make the playoffs, voters for assistant coach of the year need to keep in mind the name of Dennis Allen.

The Bears' defensive coordinator has not had his intended starting defense for a down this season and it's going to continue indefinitely. Yet, Allen has had the Bears in the NFL takeaways lead.

The Bears explored getting back slot cornerback Kyler Gordon  and two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Jaylon Johnson to face Pittsburgh and both have had full practices, but neither will be brought back off injured reserve this week and they have been ruled out.

The key with those two is the quick turnaround. Although there has been good progress reported with both, the Bears must travel to Philadelphia for a Friday game next week and having them available to play two games in six days after being on IR could be too taxing.

They already knew they would be without all three starting linebackers against  Pittsburgh—Tremaine Edmunds, T.J. Edwards and Noah Sewell—due to injuries. Now Edmunds will be away indefinitely as he is going on injured reserve, according to the team.

This means at least four weeks away for Edmunds, as a result of the groin injury he suffered late in last week's win over Minnesota.

Edmunds has four interceptions and, according to Pro Football Reference/Stathead, a career-best 66.4 passer rating against when targeted. In three Bears seasons, Edmunds has nine interceptions and never has been over 85.3 for a passer rating against.

Allen switched Edmunds to weakside linebacker this year and the move has worked wonders for creating big defensive plays.

Without linebacker T.J. Edwards still, and for much of this season, now Allen also will be without possibly the team's best defensive player this season. Edwards has been able to play in only half the games and 265 total plays due to hamstring issues. He was to sit this week with hopes he might return against his old team, the Eagles.

So it's up to Allen to create something out of a mix of defensive line starters and backup linebackers, with two secondary starters still out. This is nothing new this season.

"We've got a lot of depth on this team," Bears coach Ben Johnson said. "I think we have a lot of guys that, as a coaching staff, we, by design, put them in some challenging situations from the springtime through training camp. Now, when they get in those situations, they're ready for it.

"We talk all the time about being able to handle pressure, keep them being poised, and I think they rise to the occasion. And so, I think that's our entire team. I think that's part of our identity and who we are. Really proud of the guys for handling those situations.”

Linebacker Carl Jones Jr. has been signed to the active roster to help with depth with Edmunds, Edwards and Sewell all out. The most likely replacement for Edmunds is D'Marco Jackson. Rookie Ruben Hyppolite II could be the other starting linebacker.

The Bears also put running back Roschon Johnson on IR with  a finger injury and signed running back Brittain Brown to the 53-man roster. They are elevating tight end Nikola Kalinic and offensive lineman Jordan McFadden from the practice squad by standard elevation.

This week's game it will be six starters out and taking into account the starters designated on defense as out this week, Allen will have been without eight starters for a total of 35 games this season when the final gun sounds on Sunday.

Bears starters games missed

After Sunday's Week 12 game

CB Jaylon Johnson 10*

CB Kyler Gordon 9*

MLB T.J. Edwards 6*

DE Dayo Odeyingbo 3*

DT Grady Jarrett 3

SLB Noah Sewell 2*

WLB Tremaine Edmunds 1*

CB Tyrique Stevenson 1

*Missing this week

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.