Chicago Bears will be without 2 key pieces of their offensive line Sunday
The Chicago Bears' offense will be shorthanded yet again this week.
Both starting tackles will miss the game, the Bears announced as a part of Friday's injury report, meaning Braxton Jones and Darnell Wright will be out on Sunday against the New England Patriots.
Bears back up left tackle Kiran Amegadije will also miss his second-straight game with a calf injury.
"It’s going to be good to have some depth in there and some different pieces in there," Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said Friday. "Obviously with our injuries we are going to need that for sure. In terms of the O-line depth, I know that will be a question, we had different combinations during the course of the week – we worked on those and again I’m not going to say who is going to line up where and all those thing but we had a couple of good combinations, guys that worked well in there with the reps that they have had. They guys really have done a good job."
Adding Bates to the fold gives the Bears more depth on the interior, but the exterior will rely on a few veterans to try and pick up the slack. One of the veterans is Jake Curhan, who came to Chicago this offseason from Seattle. Curhan has spent most of the regular season on the practice squad so far.
"I would say when you come in there the first time, of course it takes a little time to get your feet under you," Eberflus said of Curhan. "He’s had a good week of practice."
Now, the Bears will most likely shift Pryor over from right guard to left tackle. Veteran back up tackle Larry Borom will remain at left tackle, which is where he started last week.
Eberflus announced Friday that veteran interior offensive lineman Ryan Bates will be activated off injured reserve, which is where he's been since Week 1 when he suffered a shoulder injury against the Tennessee Titans. Bates will most likely take over the right guard spot that Pryor would vacate by moving to right tackle.
Eberflus and the Bears coaching staff have stressed how they'd like to avoid making multiple moves on the offensive line and moving players across positions.
This week, the Bears don't have that luxury. It comes at a difficult time, too, as the Bears allowed six sacks to the Arizona Cardinals in last Sunday's 29-9 loss.
"You’d always like to avoid any change of course," Eberflus said. "We’d like to make just one change, but sometimes you have to make more. When you have multiple injuries a lot of time you have to make more than those. We’ll see where it goes, we have a plan in place for that. Like I said, the guys have worked well this week."
Other injury news
Jaquan Brisker will miss his fourth-straight game with the concussion he suffered against the Carolina Panthers. The Bears' stud safety has been missed in the defensive backfield, but Elijah Hicks has played well in Briskers' absence as his top reserve.
There is some good news for the Bears.
Star edge rusher Montez Sweat will be back after missing Sunday's loss against the Cardinals. Pass rusher Darrell Taylor was listed as questionable for Sunday's game with a knee injury.
However, with all the injuries on the offensive line that puts the onus on the Bears' defense to play at a high level.