The Bears released their Tuesday injury report ahead of Thursday’s primetime game against the Buccaneers, and it was more of the same.
The Chicago Bears released their second injury report for the week ahead of Thursday’s primetime contest against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and there was nothing surprising on the Bears front.
Following a walkthrough on Monday, where injury designations were estimates, Tuesday reflected more of the same. Safeties Deon Bush and Sherrick McManis did not practice with hamstring injuries.
McManis suffered a hamstring injury in Week 3 against the Atlanta Falcons while Bush suffered a similar injury last Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts, which leaves their two reserve safeties’ statuses for Thursday up-in-the-air.
For the fifth straight week, outside linebacker Khalil Mack remains limited in practice with a knee injury. It’ll likely be the same on Wednesday with his game designation likely questionable for Thursday, although there’s a 99.9% chance he’ll be good to go against Tampa Bay.
The Bears will hold one more practice on Wednesday, along with game designations, ahead of Thursday’s primetime contest against the Bucs.
In what’s a surprise to no one, the Bears have opened as underdogs against the Buccaneers heading into Week 5.
The Chicago Bears are coming off a short week where they’ll host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday Night Football in a rematch of Super Bowl LII quarterbacks Nick Foles and Tom Brady.
It doesn’t help matters that Chicago is coming off a brutal 19-11 loss to the Indianapolis Colts that left them with a slew of questions.
The Bears offense is coming off an embarrassing outing against an impressive Colts defense, where Nick Foles’ replacement of Mitchell Trubisky produced similar results on offense. The offense was held to three points for the first 58 minutes before scoring a garbage-time touchdown in the final minutes.
So, obviously, Vegas isn’t buying into the 3-1 Bears, who could just as easily be 0-4 at this point. The Bears have opened as 5.5-point home underdogs against the Buccaneers, according to BetMGM.
This is the fourth time this season that the Bears have been underdogs. The only game they were favored in was a home game against the New York Giants in Week 2.
The Bears will face a Buccaneers team that just won a shoot-out with the Los Angeles Chargers, where Brady threw five touchdowns. While the Bears defense has been stout this season, despite giving up some yards, it’s Chicago’s offense that poses the biggest concern.
We’ll see if Matt Nagy can rally his team — and his offense — to challenge the Buccaneers for their fourth win this season.
The Bears have avoided some star receivers this season due to injury. And it looks like it could happen again with Bucs WR Chris Godwin.
Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than great, which is exactly what the Chicago Bears are finding out right now. While the Bears could easily be 0-3 at this point, they’re one of just seven undefeated teams left through three weeks.
And they’ve accomplished that through no small feat — orchestrating two miraculous fourth-quarter comebacks in two of the last three games. But they’ve also been gifted some luck, whether it was Lions running back D’Andre Swift’s dropped touchdown or getting some breaks in regards to facing some pretty big receivers.
The Bears avoided Detroit Lions receiver Kenny Golladay, Atlanta Falcons receiver Julio Jones, who nursed injuries at the time. And now it appears that they’re going to catch another injury break with Tampa Bay Buccaneers wideout Chris Godwin.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Godwin has a mild hamstring pull, which will keep him out of this Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers and potentially next Thursday’s primetime match-up against the Bears.
#Bucs productive WR Chris Godwin had his MRI yesterday, and the test confirmed a mild hamstring pull, source said. He’s out this week, and based on the schedule, potentially next Thursday vs the #Bears. But shouldn’t be much more after that.
Not that Godwin is the only threat on Tampa Bay’s offense, especially with future Hall-of-Fame quarterback Tom Brady leading the way. The Bears will still have to contend with receiver Mike Evans and tight end Rob Gronkowski. But one less weapon in Godwin would certainly make all the difference for Chicago’s defense.
We’ll see how this pans out over the next week heading into the Bears and Bucs’ Thursday Night Football showdown on Oct. 8.
On the eve of a new decade, we’re counting down the Bears’ best games of this past decade — including some real blasts from the past.
Between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2019, the Chicago Bears played 164 games, including three playoff games, compiling a record of 78-86. Surprising playoff runs in 2010 and 2018 were sandwiched around lengthy stretches of mediocrity from 2013-2017, and fans were treated to a below-average product for much of the decade.
Still, there were quite a few bright spots for the NFL’s charter franchise during the last 10 years, including memorable games that provided thrilling victories. As a disappointing 2019 season concludes, let’s look back on some of the better games and moments the ’10s had to offer.
To kick off the next decade as we enter 2020, here are my top 20 Bears games from the 2010s.
20. 2019, Week 14, Cowboys at Bears
Bears 31 – Cowboys 24: Easily the best game of an otherwise disappointing season, the Bears offense came alive in primetime against the Cowboys, with quarterback Mitchell Trubisky accounting for all four touchdowns with his arm and legs in arguably his best game as a Bear. On defense, despite not creating a turnover, the unit frustrated the Cowboys offense all evening with QB pressures and excellent play from their secondary. The matchup was a pseudo-playoff game, with the Bears keeping their hopes alive for one more week in a complete-team win.
19. 2018, Week 8, Bears at Bills
Bears 41 – Bills 9: While the Buffalo Bills weren’t a powerhouse in 2018, the Bears defense still made their offense look completely inept in a blowout. Forcing four turnovers, including three interceptions from quarterback Nathan Peterman, the Bears scored twice on defense thanks to outside linebacker Leonard Floyd’s pick six and safety Eddie Jackson’s fumble recovery, and limited the Bills’ offense to just 264 yards. The reason this game isn’t higher on the list is due to the Bears offensive performance, as they gained just 190 yards.
18. 2011, Week 1, Falcons at Bears
Bears 30 – Falcons 12: No, this wasn’t the Bears-Falcons matchup that saw the debut of quarterback Mike Glennon, this was the first game following the Bears heartbreaking loss to the Packers in the NFC Championship game. Led by quarterback Jay Cutler, who threw for over 300 yards and two touchdowns, the Bears won convincingly against the reigning NFC South champions and held the Falcon offense to just six points. This game also featured an impressive performance from Hall of Fame linebacker Brian Urlacher, who had an interception and a fumble recovery for a score. The defense had a total of three takeaways and started the 2011 season with a bang.
