Bears forced to rely on depth and flexibility with a key starter on the offensive line out of practice on Wednesday
The Chicago Bears might be forced to get creative on the offensive line this week after going through Wednesday's practice without a key starter.While talking to the media ahead of practice, head coach Matt Eberflus revealed that right tackle Darnell Wright would not be practicing with a back injury.With Wright not on the field, Eberflus […]
The Chicago Bears might be forced to get creative on the offensive line this week after going through Wednesday's practice without a key starter.
While talking to the media ahead of practice, head coach Matt Eberflus revealed that right tackle Darnell Wright would not be practicing with a back injury.
With Wright not on the field, Eberflus said the team planned on using multiple different combinations on the offensive line utilizing the depth at the position and the multi-positional flexibility of different players.
The first player Eberflus brought up as an option was Matt Pryor, who started for the team at right guard over an injured Nate Davis in Week 3. Pryor played both right guard and right tackle for the Bears during the preseason, logging 68 snaps at guard and 8 at tackle. Eberflus noted he was mostly impressed with Pryor's performance against the Colts outside of a few bad plays that Pryor "would love to have back."
"First of all, his attitude is great," Eberflus added. "He's a great teammate. He works well with Darnell right next to him. I think those that's a good partnership there. That's what that's what we saw. He's a real good athlete for his size. I think firmness in there is good for the quarterback and also just his run block, he can move people on some double teams and single blocks. I just think he did a really good job improving and learning the way we do it. He's got some flexibility."
Moving Pryor to right tackle in place of Wright, if the second-year tackle can't go, also depends on the health of Davis. Davis played one snap at right guard in Week 3 after Pryor was forced to move to left tackle when Braxton Jones briefly left the field. Davis was questionable for the game after suffering a groin re-injury late in the week.
If the Bears want to keep Pryor where he is at right guard over Davis, third-round rookie Kiran Amegadje is another option to play in place of Wright at tackle. The rookie was active for the first time last week, which was a great sign in his progression.
"Kiran's look really good. He is one of our options," Eberflus continued. "He's looked good. He's continuing to improve. You know, he's a guy that's super smart in terms of the mentals and the technique is just keeping improving every single week, and we're working hard to get him there."
Clearly, the Bears are keeping their options open. However, the team wants to avoid playing the musical chair game up-front and simply wants to find the best, and healthiest, starting five players.
As for the rest of the injury report after Wednesday, here's where things stood:

The biggest takeaway was the return of wide receiver Keenan Allen. The veteran pass catcher missed the last two games, and each day of practice last week, with a heel injury. Allen did not travel to the game last Sunday for a personal reason, but did work with the trainers over the weekend.
The good news, Allen was back on the field Wednesday as a limited participant.
"He was working over the weekend and all that stuff with the rehab group. So that's looking good as we go," Eberflus said. "We hope it's something that's going to get better and stay better. And we're hopeful of that."
Along with Wright, the Bears had three other players who did not practice on Wednesday: Terell Smith (hip), Zacch Picens (groin), and Darrell Taylor (illness).
Nate Davis (groin), Andrew Billings (knee), Khari Blasingame (hand/knee), Braxton Jones (knee) and Montez Sweat (elbow) were all limited.