More bad injury news for Bears' defense ahead of critical Week 10 matchup

The Chicago Bears will be without yet another key defensive leader in their Week 10 game against the New York Giants.

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If there's an unsung hero in the Chicago Bears' defense, it's linebacker T.J. Edwards. While he was out for the first few games of the season with a hamstring injury, Chicago's defense suffered, especially against the run. Now it appears that hamstring is acting up again as he's been listed as a 'Did Not Practice' on Chicago's injury report each day this week.

That was already a dose of bad news for a team looking to get another winning streak started. T.J. Edwards' health could be the key against Chicago's upcoming opponent, the feisty New York Giants, but his injury news got even worse on Friday. Kevin Fishbain, a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Bears, posted on X (formerly Twitter) that Edwards had apparently broken his hand and already had surgery, according to head coach Ben Johnson.

Bears LB T.J. Edwards had surgery on a broken hand, head coach Ben Johnson said. He'll wear a cast. He's also still dealing with a hamstring injury.

Asked if Edwards is an IR candidate, Johnson: "We're thinking he'll come back before we need to do that."

— Kevin Fishbain (@kfishbain) November 7, 2025

No IR for Edwards... yet

While Johnson did say that they're not moving Edwards to IR yet, it hardly inspires any confidence for Bears fans. Just because they're not moving him now doesn't mean they won't have to in another week or two, which would make Edwards' absence hurt all the more.

This is a significant blow to a Bears defense that can hardly stand to lose any more starters. They just had arguably their worst game of the year by giving up 470 yards of offense to a 40-year-old Joe Flacco. Now they face a Giants team that features an explosive, exciting rookie quarterback in Jaxson Dart and a run game that's averaging a solid 117.9 rushing yards per game per ESPN stats.

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We'll see if this injury update alters the general optimism around the Bears as we head into Week 10. Before Friday, NFL experts appeared to be buying into the Bears' surge, with 90% of them picking the Bears to beat the Giants on Sunday and move to 6-3.

Though the Giants are hardly a rival or an NFC contender, this game carries massive implications for the Bears. A loss to the 2-7 Giants after barely surviving the 3-5 Bengals would crush most confidence in this Bears team, and in Caleb Williams, specifically. However, if the Bears win as expected, they could very well end Week 10 atop the NFC North, or in second place ahead of the Packers.

Next man up for the Bears in Week 10

Without Edwards, the Bears' defense is once again susceptible to getting run right over, and you can bet that the Giants will try to do exactly that to help their rookie quarterback, Jaxson Dart, settle in. The entire defensive line will need to step up in a big way to make sure runners don't get to the second level with a full head of steam, and rookie linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II will be expected to step up and fill those shoes.

Can they do it? I think so, and I think the Bears should still win this one, but it might be too close for comfort yet again.

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