Montez Sweat Among the Injured and Out When Bears Return to Practice

Numerous starters who didn't play in Thursday's game also didn't practice Saturday as a result of injuries from before the Bears played Houston, including edge rusher Montez Sweat.

Montez Sweat was not among players practicing Saturday after the starters had not played in Thursday's game. / Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

The Bears didn't use starters when they played in the Hall of Fame Game Thursday and when they returned to practice Saturday at Halas Hall they didn't have a big chunk of those starters for another reason.

Mainly it was because of injuries, although minor ones to major players that they didn't want to specify.

"Going to be hopeful that they're back here the next day and we have Monday off as well," coach Matt Eberflus said. "That's by design to be able to get guys back so we get to the thick of this training camp session where we're getting ready for Buffalo then Cincinnati joint practice then Cincinnati, you know, and then a short week into that Kansas City game so we're working toward that getting some good practices in there."

The biggest name missing practice was defensive end Montez Sweat. This obviously wasn't serious as he was doing some stretching and rehab type of work on the side and involved with the defense on the sideline all day. The same was true for nose tackle Andrew Billings, who also sat out.

The secondary was again without slot cornerback Kyler Gordon as they were before the trip to Canton but safety Jaquan Brisker was also out of Saturday's scrimmages. When backup safety Jonathan Owens hadn't yet returned from watching his wife, gymnast Simone Biles, in her gold medal-winning performances at Paris, it mean Elijah Hicks playing secondary with the starters. The cornerbacks also were down another player with Tyrique Stevenson not practicing and Terell Smith taking over that spot.

The injury problems plaguing their offensive line continued, as they had a makeshift group with the first team.

Right tackle Darnell Wright missed the last practice and also Saturday's and was replaced by Matt Pryor and Larry Borom. When right guard Nate Davis remained away due to the "tightness" Eberflus has said he suffers from, practice squad player Bill Murray stepped with starters.

Others still not out practicing were offensive lineman Theo Benedet, running backs Ian Wheeler and Travis Homer and linebacker Noah Sewell.

Murray had to play extensively in the game against Houston, as did most backups.

"He was really good, real aggressive," Eberflus said of the former defensive lineman. "I thought his zone game, jumping to the second level (to block) was outstanding. I think his pass sets need to improve a little bit with what he did there but overall we were pleased with him."

Pryor's stint with the first team was his first of training camp. The 6-foot-7, 332-pound veteran had been doing it regularly during OTAs and it doesn't bother the Bears having him mixed in with the group.

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"Well, his size is one, he's a massive individual," Eberflus said. "So if you put him inside (at guard), I think it's really great because inside pocket'll be firm and that type of thing. He can really anchor up in there, which is great for a quarterback. Like I've said, the hardest push is on the inside that affects him (QB) the fastest. That benefits us there competition-wise and depth-wise.

"And then on the outside edge, I think he's pretty decent there, too. He's played out there and it's good to have that position flexibility to move him around when we need to, and also compete for jobs."

They hope to see less of those subs on both sides of the field starting Sunday, especially on defense where Zaach Pickens replaced Billings and either Robinson or Austin Booker came in for Sweat.

The backups probably got better evaluations from coaches for their work Saturday than they did for playing in Thursday's game.

"To me that's a great evaluation of those (backup) guys, going against the One offensive line instead of being with the Twos and Three," Eberflus said.

He also said he's planning to do more in practice with different backups playing against first teamers in order to look at roster situations in the next few practices.

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