Bear Digest

Surprise injury absence puts Bears at risk facing Lamar Jackson

The Friday injury report had several Bears players ruled out including one who has had problems with similar injuries earlier this season.
Gene Chamberlain|
Kyler Gordon is among the first to congratulate kicker Jake Moody after a game-winning field goal at Washington.
Kyler Gordon is among the first to congratulate kicker Jake Moody after a game-winning field goal at Washington. | Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Kyler Gordon's season has been completely marred by soft tissue injuries and the Bears will simply need to endure another one Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens.

As Lamar Jackson healed enough to go through a full practice on Friday, the Bears went the opposite way and 60% of their starting secondary is out.

Gordon is out due to groin and calf injuries that kept him out of practice Thursday and limited on Wednesday. Gordon has missed four of the first six games after he was deemed a key player for Dennis Allen to have on the field.

Also out this week is cornerback Tyrique Stevenson with a shoulder injury. They have been without Jaylon Johnson since Week 2 due to a groin injury and he is on injured reserve.

Gordon's injury is a surprise because this hadn't been a concern coming out of last week's game.

The starting safeties, Kevin Byard and Jaquan Brisker, are their only two secondary members who will play Sunday.

Also out are running back Roschon Johnson (back), tackle Braxton Jones (knee) and tight end Cole Kmet (back).

Two others who are on the roster are questionable, kicker Cairo Santos (thigh) and running back D'Andre Swift (groin). Swift went through a limited practice the last two days as he tris to get through a groin injury and Santos has had full practices the last two days.

With Santos, they'll need to look at whether he can kick without aggravating the injury because Jake Moody is 8-for-8 on field goals in his place, all kicks shorter than 50 yards.

Everyone else was removed from the injury report, including defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, and they're ready to play. This also includes wide receiver DJ Moore after a hip injury had him limited in practice Thursday but participating in full Friday.

Two other players are questionable but currently are not on the roster because  they're on injured reserve. One is defensive end Austin Booker, who has gone through full practices for three weeks and will need to be removed from IR after this game or be ruled out for the rest of the season. The other player is linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga, who has a little more than a week yet after this to be on IR before he must come onto the 53-man roster or be ruled out for the year.

Without Gordon and Stevenson, the Bears will lean on Nick McCloud  and also Josh Blackwell. They could even turn to Jaylon Jones, who had been off the team after signing with Cardinals but returned after he was released in Arizona.

McCloud has experience playing outside and in the slot while Blackwell mostly has been a backup in the slot.

They could even turn to one of the backup safeties for coverage help, such as Elijah Hicks or Jonathan Owens.

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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.